Major Flood at University Library of Basel: 3000 Valuable Books Damaged

A major flood occurred at the University Library of Basel, damaging about 3000 books. The incident took place on Tuesday morning, March 10, 2026, in the institution's historic building on Bernoullistrasse. The direct cause of the failure was renovation work on the building's roof, during which construction workers opened a water pipe, leading to an uncontrolled leak. Water penetrated through the wooden ceilings and floors of the three highest stories of the old building, flooding the collections stored there. University Library of Basel had to immediately close the open access storage section for students.

A rescue operation began immediately after the leak was detected, with the priority for staff being to secure the wet volumes from irreversible damage. Library Director Alice Keller confirmed the scale of the incident and the implementation of specialized conservation procedures. The most waterlogged copies, estimated at 2000 items, were transported to an external specialist company. Freeze-drying will be applied there, aiming to save the paper from deformation and microbial growth. The remaining thousand books, which suffered less damage, were laid out in three reading rooms taken out of service to allow them to dry naturally under controlled conditions.

The University of Basel, founded on July 4, 1460 by a papal bull from Pope Pius II, is the oldest university in Switzerland. Its main library is located on Schönbeinstrasse, but the collections are dispersed across several locations, including the historic building on Bernoullistrasse. The institution regularly undergoes modernizations aimed at protecting its valuable resources from external factors, but construction work in historic buildings often involves increased technical risk. The situation at the facility is being monitored, and experts are trying to prevent the formation of mold, which poses the greatest threat to paper collections after flooding. Although most of the damaged books are from newer holdings, each requires an individual conservation assessment. The university authorities have not yet provided precise estimates of the financial losses or the expected date for the full reopening of the closed library sections. 2000 (books) — volumes directed to the specialized freeze-drying process Timeline of the Basel Incident: March 10, morning — Leak detected; March 10, noon — Sections closed; March 11 — Collection transport; March 12 — Drying operation