Tens of thousands of antique books are in danger. They are being eaten by beetles. centuries-old books are being taken off shelves of library in medieval abbey in Hungary. Pannonhalma Abbey was founded in year 996. It is four years older than Kingdom of Hungary. One of books in danger is complete Bible from the 13th century. There are also hundreds of manuscripts from before the invention of printing press in mid-15th century. Library staff are carefully putting the books and manuscripts in wooden boxes. The boxes are being sealed in large plastic sacks. The oxygen has been removed from the sacks. After six weeks without oxygen, all of beetles should be dead.
The insect eating the priceless books is drugstore beetle, also known as bread beetle. It usually feeds on dried foodstuff, like wheat, flour and spices. The bugs like to eat the gelatin and starch-based glue that are used to make books. Library workers realized something was wrong when they found lots of dust on bookshelves. The librarians then found holes in the books. These were caused by the beetles chewing through paper. person in charge of getting rid of the beetles said: "We've never encountered such degree of infection before." She explained she felt lot of responsibility for saving the books. She said if book is ruined, " piece of culture has been lost".
