Collection of textiles and books from German Leimen arrived at the Belarusian Museum in Vilnius along with a carpet beetle

"A pest, a carpet beetle, was found in the items, which is particularly dangerous for wool clothing, but can also damage books. Special protective measures will have to be taken," said Paulina.

According to the Belarusian museum employee, she recently began sorting through the collection items and found carpet beetle larvae (in Latin, Anthrenus verbasci. — RS) in them. Paulina Vitushchanka says that fabrics are particularly at risk and will now have to be sent to a freezer for two weeks, but this also applies to books, whose covers the carpet beetle threatens to destroy.

Such a common method of combating the carpet beetle as washing is not suitable for textile items from the collection, as it can damage the dyes of patterns, and mold may appear, which is also very bad for museum exhibits.

In early April, dozens of boxes of artifacts from the personal collection and archive of Belarusian figure Yuri Popka, who lived in the German city of Leimen and maintained a private Belarusian museum, were brought to the museum from Germany.

After his death in 1990, the collection of the emigrant from Belarus, according to his will, passed to the city authorities and was stored in a warehouse.

Eventually, the collection was taken over by German citizen of Belarusian origin, Ales Maiseyenka, who brought it to the Vilnius museum last month.

The employees of the Belarusian museum are very grateful to Ales Maiseyenka both for the delivery of the collection and for its rescue.

"The Leimen city authorities de facto destroyed Popka's museum between 2015 and 2017 (we don't know the exact year). The exhibition was simply thrown haphazardly into cardboard boxes, which were stored in damp rooms. And we are very, very grateful to Ales Maiseyenka, because for years he sought to change the situation with this collection — and finally succeeded. We are also grateful to the activists of the RAZAM Deutschland organization, who helped bring the items to us. Otherwise, these beetles would have been gnawing at Belarusian costumes for years," says Paulina Vitushchanka.

According to Paulina Vitushchanka, the museum is already looking for the possibility of renting freezer space, where textile items and books will be placed. This will cost a certain amount of money, so they are also looking for funding. It's good that part of Yuri Popka's collection will not require such efforts, the museum employee believes.

"There are other items there, for example, correspondence, posters, straw baskets, which do not need to be frozen. It is enough to simply quarantine them in very tightly sealed boxes. Such quarantine is necessary because, although there is nothing edible for our beetle there, it does not mean that it is not present, and if not quarantined, it will escape and find something 'tasty' from our main collection, which we are trying to prevent. As a result, if the beetle is there, it will die of hunger. The quarantine for these items will take at least two months," Paulina Vitushchanka explained.

After quarantine measures and the description of items from Yuri Popka's collection, the staff of the Ivan Lutskievich Belarusian Museum in Vilnius promise to prepare an exhibition of the most interesting exhibits from the collection.

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