A 500 Year Old Landmark Is Being Eaten By Termites
A 500 Year Old Landmark Is Being Eaten By Termites
Termites commonly consume wood that makes contact with ground soil. This is not new information to most people, as this is how homes typically become infested with termites. Having the soil surrounding your home chemically treated can keep termites from invading your property. However, beyond soil treatments, there is not much homeowners can do to prevent termite infestations since houses are built within ground soil. This makes one wonder how termites could ever infest wooden objects that are faraway from ground soil. Of course, not all termites dwell within soil, such as drywood termites. And termites can easily be transported from one location to another. But certainly there is no way that termites could ever infest a treasured historical artifact that is under constant watch by officials working in a museum, right? You would not think it, and it may be a rare occurrence, but treasured items that are preserved due to their historical significance can become infested with cunning termites. For example, a four hundred and ninety four year old wood-carved crucifix known as Magellan’s Cross has recently become termite food.
Magellan’s Cross is kept within an opulent marble constructed pavilion in Cebu, which is a province of the Philippines. The cross was planted in the ground by Ferdinand Magellan and his team of explorers upon arriving on the islands that are now known as the Philippines. Magellan planted the cross in this region in 1521 in order to signify the spread of the Catholic religion. Today, the cross is a tourist attraction in Cebu. People from all over the world visit the pavilion where the cross is kept. However, the pavilion that houses the cross has been closed to the public so that experts can focus on eradicating the termites that have infested the cross. In order to preserve the wood used to create the cross, experts placed a more recent type of wood over the cross a long time ago. After the more recent wood coat was removed from the cross a few weeks ago, experts noticed that the original wood was deteriorating. A sample of the wood has been sent to experts so that they can determine how the wood can be preserved while also exterminating the termites that are eating away at the cross.
Have you ever heard of any other historical relic becoming infested with termites?