Wood-destroying insects in wooden cultural heritage – Case studies in churches and open air
museums of Germany, Austria, Latvia, Estonia, and Sweden
Uwe Noldt
Institute of Wood Technology and Wood Biology (HTB); Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institute
(vTI) / Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries; Leuschnerstrasse 91d,
21031 Hamburg, Germany
During the last 12 years the author has headed or taken part in several national and EC-funded
projects on the occurrence of wood-destroying insects in cultural heritage buildings. Starting out
with intensive monitoring measures in the German open air museums of Detmold and Tittling,
many other museums in Germany and other countries were inspected in later years and the
damages thoroughly surveyed either in single seasons or in periods of up to a decade. In Aachen
Cathedral and several other churches again in many other countries similar studies were initiated
and conducted in various intensities. Extensive inspections of Latvian (n = 120 objects) and
Estonian and Swedish wooden heritage (as on-going studies) are also included. The main woodboring insects are described, most of them belonging to the coleopteran families Anobiidae and
Cerambycidae. Additionally, the role of the antagonistic species of the beetle family Cleridae is
outlined. The applied monitoring techniques (e.g., sampling, paper covers, and sticky, light and
pheromone traps) and their results in field tests are illustrated. Furthermore, the accompaniment
and success control of curative measures like heat treatments and fumigations of the respective
buildings, both the constructions and the contained objects, is shown. All the above is
demonstrated for selected case studies of both churches and open air museums displaying
similarities and/or diversities of the different geographic regions.
Keywords: wood-destroying insects, wooden cultural heritage, open air museums, churches