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High Tech Used to Save Antique Books

Malte HeynenAugust 5, 2013

On September 2nd, 2004, fire ravaged Weimar's world-famous Duchess Anna Amalia Library. Some 50,000 books were totally destroyed, another 62,000 suffered severe fire and water damage.

https://p.dw.com/p/19K72
Autor cu.here Portfolio ansehen Bildnummer 26784725 Land Deutschland Repräsentative Kategorie Gegenstände Druckprodukte Buch Konzeptionelle Kategorie Freizeit Unterhaltung Sammlungen Keywords alt antik bibliothek bildung book buch buchrücken bücher bücherregal goethe hegel kant know how knowledge learning lernen lesen lessing nachhilfe papier regal schiller school schule universität wissen
Image: Fotolia/cu.here

Since then, restorers have been working to salvage what they can. They've developed new techniques for restoring large quantities of books relatively quickly and efficiently. Hot water, steel cages, special cranes and specially developed ultra-thin paper from Japan are all part of the restoration assembly line. About half the damaged books have have undergone the treatment so far.

High technology book rescue