One of Hungary’s oldest monasteries is battling a bug infestation crisis damaging troves of archaic books.
The Pannonhalma Archabbey, a Benedictine monastery with a library of 400,000 volumes, shut down on June 1 and will remain closed for at least seven months, according to a news release from the institution.
Bread beetles (Stegobium paniceum) had infested at least 100,000 of the tomes, some of which are centuries old, according to Daily News Hungary.
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The beetles are usually found in food stores, but they are also drawn to the animal-based glue and plant starch used in the bindings and spines of these ancient books.
Staff discovered the infestation during a routine cleaning.
“This is an advanced insect infestation which has been detected in several parts of
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