Pannonhalma, Hungary (AP)-Thousands of centuries-old books are being drawn from the shelves of a medieval Abhay Hungary In an attempt to protect them from a beetle infection that can erase centuries of history.
The 1,000 -year -old Pannonhalma Archbabby is a huge Benedictin Math, one of Hungary’s oldest centers and A UNESCO world Heritage Site.
Restoration workers are removing around 100,000 handbound books from their shelves and carefully keeping them in crates, the beginning of a disinfection process that is aimed at killing small beats, which are buried in them.
The drug store, also known as bread beetles, is often found between dried foods such as grains, flour and spices. But they are also attracted to gelatin and starch-based adhesive found in books.
They have been found in a part of the library housing around a quarter of Abhay’s 400,000 editions.
“This is an advanced insect infection that is detected in many parts of the library, so the entire collection is classified as infected and all should be treated at the same time,” Jesopia, the main restore of the project, edited Hazdu. “We have never faced such infection before.”
Abhay houses have historical treasures
The Beetle invasion was first detected during the cleaning of a regular library. Employees saw unusual layers of dust on the shelves and then saw that the holes were buried in some book spines. When opening the volume, the hole of the boar can be seen in the paper where the beetle is chewed.
Abhay was founded in Pannonhalma in 996 four years before the establishment of the Hungarian state. Sitting on a long hill in Northwestern Hungary, Abe has the oldest books in the country as well as many early and most important written records.
For over 1,000 years, Abhay has been one of the most prominent religious and cultural sites in Hungary and all Central Europe, alive for centuries of wars and foreign infiltrations such as Hungary’s Ottoman invasion and occupation in the 16th century.
Ilona ásványi, director of the Pannonhalma Archbabi Library, stated that she is “humble” by historical and cultural treasures, whenever she enters, holds the collection.
“It is amazed to think that there was a library here a thousand years ago, and we are the keeper of the first book Catalog in Hungary,” he said.
The most outstanding functions of the library are 19 codes, including a full Bible from the 13th century. It also has several hundred manuscripts, which are thousands of books before the invention of the printing press in the middle of the 15th century and from the 16th century.
While the oldest and rare prints and books are stored separately and have not been infected, ásványi said that any loss to the collection represents a blow for cultural, historical and religious heritage.
“When I look at a book by chewing a beetle or infected in some other way, I think no matter how many copies are published and how much change the book is, a piece of culture is lost,” he said.
Books will spend the week in an oxygen -free environment
To kill the beetle, the boxes of books are being long, hematically sealing in plastic sacks, from where all oxygen is removed. After six weeks in the pure nitrogen environment, Abhay hopes that all beetles will be destroyed.
Before the resume starts, each book will be individually inspected and vacuum. Any book damaged by insects will be kept separate for later restoration work.
Climate change may contribute
Abe, which expects to reopen the library earlier next year, believes that the effects of climate change played a role in increasing the beetle infection as average. Temperature increase Fast in Hungary.
Chief Restorer Hazdu said that high temperatures have allowed Beetle to go through several more development cycles annually during the cooler season.
“High temperatures are favorable for insects’ lives,” he said. “So far we have dealt with mold damage in both most deposits and open collections. But now I think more and more pest infections will appear due to global warming.”
The director of the library stated that life in a Benedictine Abe is governed by a set of rules in use for about 15 centuries, a code that forces them to make every effort to save their huge collection.
“It states in the rule of St. Benedict that all the property of the monastery should be considered as the same value as the sacred vessel of the altar,” ásványi said. “I think it is the responsibility of what this protection and protection really mean.”
