The treasures of the Albanian National Library, EU’s role in preserving and restoring rare books and manuscripts

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The treasures of the Albanian National Library, EU's role in preserving and restoring rare books and manuscripts

© EU Delegation to Albania

A book of Pope Pius the Second, published in 1531, is one of the oldest books in the collection of the National Library in Albania. Titled "A wonderful description, full of elegance and charm of Asia and Europe, by Pope Pius II, which includes events both old and new, worthy to mention", it is written in Latin, predating Enea Silvio Piccolomini's papacy. This publication, comprising 499 pages, gained recognition after the Pope's passing. Its route from medieval Italy to the National Library remains unknown but considering the confiscations during the communist regime, it is believed that the book belonged to the Catholic clergy or Albanian noble families. Known as an outstanding humanist, during his pontificate (1458-1464), the Pope, tried to unite Europe when the Ottoman Empire was threatening to overrun the continent.

However, he is not the only European humanist whose books belong to the National Library. Another rare edition from 1645, with a preface from Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466/9-1536) is part of library's collections. "A Bible with a preface from Erasmus of Rotterdam, one of greatest scholars of Renaissance and main figures of European culture, is very rare. This is one of the richest libraries in the Balkans, perhaps for the absurd reason that during the communist era, everything was confiscated and collected here. We have very rich collections from the European Renaissance, Byzantine and Ottoman periods, including the Venetian collection, comprising 1200 books, manuscripts and maps, as well as Greek and Latin authors published in Europe in the 16^th century", says Piro Misha, Director of the National Library.

Different editions of Bibles, Qurans, or books by Aristotle, French philosopher Diderot or Jean-Jacques Rousseau, books in Greek, Latin, Ottoman Turkish, Persian or Arabic enhance the library's collections with stunning historical incunabula dating back to the earliest days of European printing. "Our duty is to make them known. The library has a priority on the national heritage, but these are universal values that we must preserve", notes Misha.
As centuries make them rare and extremely valuable, the institution faces the challenge to provide preservation and restoration, regardless the conditions in which the funds are preserved, maintaining certain levels of temperature, light and humidity.

"The restoration lab is one of the most important sectors in any national library. It ensures the longevity of the collections. After our specialists assess the damage, they control each fund and give priority to the books that show an urgent need for intervention. Last year, the EU4Culture programme equipped the National Library with cutting-edge technology, enabling the preservation, restoration, and online accessibility of books. Not only damaged books need to be restored in the lab. Before and after every exhibition, books, manuscripts or other rare editions need to be prepared or checked. Now we will restore the Venetian Collection, which will soon be shown in a large exhibition", explains Misha.

The restoration equipment includes servers, book and barcode scanners, laptops, tablets, book dust and specialised vacuum cleaners, sanitizers, dehumidification chambers, book cleaning and deacidification machines, significantly enhancing the library's capabilities.

"The restoration process used to take longer. The employees had to manually clean the books with horsehair brushes (soft enough not to damage the paper). Now we have a machine that can clean several books from dust, fungus, mould formation and microorganisms in 15-20 minutes. The same applies for disinfection; if we had to go through the books page by page after every exhibition, now there is a device that disinfects 50-80 books in a process of two or three hours. In one year, we have restored and maintained almost 600 books, documents or publications from the 1700s to 1940s. The equipment helped on speeding up the restoration processes", notes Antonio Çikollari, head of Book Maintenance Sector in "Sotir Kolea" Center, part of National Library where is located the restoration lab and new restoration equipment.

Depending on the frontispiece, bookbinding and the material, some books need almost 3 weeks to be restored, with leather-bound books, among the most difficult to handle due to the changes in leather production over the in centuries.

Using Japanese paper to reattach weakened joints of leather bindings, the restoring practice requires delicacy described as "book surgery" with the paper, as well as designs engraved in the leather. But this is how generations can still see in a future exhibition several books surviving from right after the Gutenberg era and witness the evolution of bookbinding over the centuries, discovering the diversity of Orient and Occident in written form and ornaments.

Background information

The EU4Culture project is funded by the European Union (EU) and is implemented by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) in close partnership with the Ministry of Economy, Culture and Innovation of Albania. It focuses on the renovation and revitalization of major cultural heritage sites damaged by the earthquake in 2019 and represents one of the largest cultural heritage programmes funded by the European Union with a total budget of € 40 million. Guided by the "Building Back Better" principle, EU4Culture focuses on the renovation of major cultural heritage sites in line with the UN Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. In parallel, the project aims to enhance Albania's tourism potential, thus directly contributing to local and regional socio-economic recovery.