Fojnica: Library restoration at the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Spirit

Builders for Peace has been involved in the reconstruction and restoration of the library of the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Spirit (Duh Sveti) in Fojnica, Bosnia, since the summer of 2006.


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The monastery was disrupted during the 1992-95 war in Yugoslavia and its library has had a difficult time recovering. The library contains an estimated 40,000 volumes, including nearly 6,500 antique books in Arabic, 3,000 Turkish documents, more than 13 incunabula, and the Ahdnama of Sultan Mehmed II el-Fatih. The collection is not only a Franciscan treasure—it belongs to all Bosnians and is one of the richest testaments to Bosnia's history and cultural heritage. Thus, its recovery is not only of local but national interest.

The books have been kept in a storage room for nearly a decade, where they were piled indiscriminately on the floor, and where they have incurred a significant—and sometimes detrimental—amount of damage. Many entities, both national and international, have expressed great concern about the collection, but various factors interfered with its recovery. Fortunately, Builders for Peace has had a direct influence on the recovery of this important collection of books.

Season 2006. In the summer of 2006, a small group of volunteers began work at the monastery. The group consisted of American students, a professional librarian, and a retired professor and former diplomat. Working with several library science students from the University of Sarajevo, a local school teacher, and the library’s curator, Fra Tomislav, the team began a system of restoration that targeted the antique and irreplaceable books. The system involved three major stages:

(1) Triage. The books were triaged: books that could be restored by hand and by brush were set in one pile; books that needed further care (such as a new cover) were set in a second pile; and books that needed to be quarantined because they had grown harmful fungus were set in a third.

(2) Cleaning. The first group of books were cleaned painstakingly, page-by-page, by Fra Tomislav. The other two groups were set aside for professional care.

(3) Cataloguing. Once a book was clean, it was removed entirely from the storage area and catalogued in a digital database according to International Library Standards. This way, the monastery could have a library catalogue with which it could locate its books once on the shelves. Furthermore, the database could be used to help integrate the library into a larger, online network of libraries throughout the former-Yugoslavia. Books that had both been cleaned and catalogued were placed in a clean storage area until the construction of the library facility was complete and they could find a safe home on shelves.

Approximately 3,500 antique books were cleaned and catalogued in the summer of 2006.

Season 2007. Builders for Peace returned to Fojnica in the summer of 2007. The library had nearly completed the construction of the library facility, thus we could begin to give the cleaned and catalogued books a permanent home on shelves. Moreover, the monastery and Fra Tomislav had worked diligently over the last year to triage and clean the rest of the books, so we were able to make a significant amount of progress.

The team of 2007 again consisted of American and Bosnian volunteers. But, this year, we also had the help of a group of approx. 14 local Bosnian teenagers and musicians. Together, we were able to accomplish an extraordinary amount of work: an additional 3,000 books were catalogued, and every book (with the exception of those severely damaged by fungus) was placed on a safe, clean shelf in the newly constructed and climate-controlled library facility (6,000 antique books were given a permanent home, while the rest still await cataloguing).

The Future. Our work at the library is near completion. Builders for Peace will return in the summer of 2008 to finish the work it began. This work will likely consist of cataloguing and classifying the remainder of the cleaned books, repairing damaged books, and working with surrounding monastic libraries to create an online library network.

For more information, please visit the following sites:
The Website of the Franciscan Monastery in Fojnica, Bosnia (http://www.samostan.ba)
The Official Website of Fojnica, Bosnia (http://www.fojnica.ba)