Beetles eat away at Hungary's literary past - new chapter in survival

In the hills of western Hungary, a monastery library that has stood for centuries is fighting for survival.

At the Pannonhalma Archabbey, more than 100,000 books have been removed after a beetle infestation linked to a warming climate.

The enemy is the drugstore beetle, a pest long known to librarians. What has changed, scientists say, is the speed at which it reproduces.

"The drugstore beetle is only a few millimeters long, brown, almost invisible. The adults don't do the damage, the larvae do. They bore through covers and glue, leaving behind holes that eat history," said Szél Győző, entomologist at the Hungarian Natural History Museum.

In normal conditions, the insect needs about 200 days to grow. But with higher temperatures, that cycle is cut in half or less. "Instead of one generation a year, you can have four or five. Rising heat makes the problem worse," Szél added.

Inside the abbey, the shelves are now bare. Books are packed into sealed bags filled with nitrogen. The treatment suffocates larvae and beetles without harming fragile manuscripts.

"With nitrogen, you can kill the larvae and beetles without harming the books. It takes time, but it works. You can save the library," Győző said.

Wars, fires and political upheaval

For the monks, it is the latest chapter in a long struggle to protect knowledge. Wars, fires and political upheaval have all scarred the abbey since it was founded in 996.

"Across Hungary's history, wars and fires have devastated this library. After every disaster, we rebuilt the collection. Today, we hold 18 codices, hundreds of early printed books, and one-of-a-kind manuscripts written here over a thousand years," said Father Konrád Dejcsics, cultural director of the abbey.

The abbey's most treasured works - including a 12th-century Bible and the Tihany Charter of 1055, the first written record of Hungarian - remain safe. They were long kept in a climate-controlled vault.

But reopening will not be simple. 

New barriers are planned to keep pests out. "We will build a special chamber at the entrance. High-pressure air will blow off insects from visitors' clothes. We must protect these books for the next thousand years," Father Dejcsics said.

The restoration effort carries a cost of more than $1.7 million. While some government funding has been secured, most of the work depends on donations. Officials hope the task can be finished by December.

The abbey's bells still ring across the countryside, a reminder of endurance. But inside its walls, the battle with insects reveals a truth: climate change does not only threaten the future. It also eats away at the past.