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Not directly Tolkien related, but I thought it might be of interest to some here.

"Three hundred years after the first foundation stone was laid, the 250,000 ancient books and manuscripts – including the ornately decorated ninth-century Book of Kells – printed on vellum, paper or silk are to be moved one by one, along with 500,000 others, to make way for the restoration of the building."

"The restoration project is currently in an “enabling” phase that will last two years because of the fragility of the books. It will determine the logistics of the move and the equal challenge of keeping the collection of books open to students and visiting scholars.

The physical preservation of the books is the driving force behind the project. Recent fires at Notre Dame, the national museum in Brazil and the Mackintosh building at the Glasgow School of Art have shown the risks to historic and cultural buildings.

“We do not want to join that litany,” says Shenton. “We need to conserve the building and the collection for its fourth century,” she said."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022 ... _Z--zqWTcDYQ5ocyGJw02am8M