Hungary's oldest library struggles to save 400,000 rare books from beetle infestation
BUDAPEST (Agencies)Hungary is concerned about treasures housed at a library in the medieval Benedictine monastery of Pannonhalma, where 400,000 rare books are at risk after a beetle infestation was discovered, the Ripost news website reported on Monday.The library has been closed since June 1, with thousands of centuries-old books beung pulled from shelves.The endangered volumes have been removed from the shelves and sealed in plastic with the addition of nitrogen. The chemical is intended to kill the bread beetles that had penetrated the paper, Ripost reported.The library is expected to remain closed until the end of the year.The prior of the monastery, Archabbot Cirill T Hortobágyi, sees climate change as the background for this beetle infestation."Pope Francis explicitly pointed out that climate damage has become a personal problem for every individual," he said in reference to the damage in the monastery library.The oldest treasures of the library, such as a 13th-century edition of the Bible, had already been stored separately and under protected conditions before the infestation, so they are not affected by the bread beetle.
The abbey of the western town of Pannonhalma, now a UNESCO World Heritage site, was founded in 996, four years before the establishment of the Hungarian kingdom. It houses the oldest book collection in the country as well as many of the earliest and most important manuscripts
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