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.
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 the library, so the entire collection is classified as infected and must be treated all at the same time,” Zsófia Edit Hajdu, the chief restorer on the project, said of the effort, according to the Associated Press.
“We’ve never encountered such a degree of infection before,” Hajdu said.
To battle the infestation, conservators placed the books inside plastic stacked crates. The crates were then hermetically sealed in bags devoid of oxygen.
After six weeks, the pure nitrogen environment should take care of the issue, conservators hope.
Do you frequent your local library?
🇭🇺
Plaga de escarabajos amenaza la biblioteca más antigua de Hungría, en la abadía de Pannonhalma🪲
📚+/-100 mil libros están en riesgo;los insectos roen encuadernaciones y papel
Calor favorecería su propagación🌡️
📦 Serán desinfectados sin oxígeno#HazEco 🔊#Hungría #Libros pic.twitter.com/sIxzCiFCFG— Eco News | Oficial (@EcoNews2025) July 14, 2025
“When I see a book chewed up by a beetle or infected in any other way, I feel that no matter how many copies are published and how replaceable the book is, a piece of culture has been lost,” Ilona Ásványi, director of the Pannonhalma Archabbey library, told the AP.
The Pannonhalma Archabbey, which UNESCO lists as a World Heritage Site, was founded in 996, according to UNESCO.
“It is dizzying to think that there was a library here a thousand years ago, and that we are the keepers of the first book catalogue in Hungary,” Ásványi said.
100.000 alte Bücher in Gefahr: Brotkäfer fressen sich durch Ungarns Kulturerbe https://t.co/defTWuSkZY pic.twitter.com/aIoEXgjP5R
— ntv Nachrichten (@ntvde) July 15, 2025
The library houses Hungary’s oldest book collection, including a complete Bible from the 13th century, according to the AP.
The collection also includes hundreds of manuscripts created before the invention of the printing press, 19 codices including the aforementioned Bible, and tens of thousands of books from the 1500s.
Ásványi said that the oldest and rarest books in the collection are stored separately and were not affected by the infestation.
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