{"id":236225,"date":"2025-12-09T12:21:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T12:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/gatti-guardiani-patrimonio\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T13:14:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T13:14:13","slug":"knowledge-guarding-cats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/en\/knowledge-guarding-cats\/","title":{"rendered":"The knowledge-guarding cats"},"content":{"rendered":"

The knowledge-guarding cats<\/span><\/h1>\n

Back when mice were the scourge of libraries, the most dependable remedy had four legs and purred.<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n
\"Cat
Cat in a library Image by Grok<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Long before the digital age and well before air conditioning, high-resolution scanners, or international archival standards existed, libraries around the world had a common enemy: mice. Attracted to paper, parchment, and the animal glue used to bind books, these rodents posed a constant threat to entire cultural collections. The response was surprisingly universal: cats were enlisted as official guardians of knowledge. This tradition spans European medieval monasteries, Asian libraries, Middle Eastern temples, Islamic archives, Chinese imperial palaces, and, of course, cultural institutions in Switzerland, Italy, Russia, and the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n

AI WEALTH MACHINE<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

A global problem: mice vs. manuscripts<\/span><\/h2>\n

From ninth-century Ireland to Edo-period Japan, from the Caliphate of C\u00f3rdoba to the Ottoman Empire, the scene was always the same: a single mouse could destroy in one night what generations of scholars had spent years creating. In Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries across Europe, in Japanese Zen temples, in madrasas of the Islamic world, and in the palaces of the Forbidden City, rodents knew no cultural or religious boundaries. Wherever knowledge was stored on organic materials\u2014paper, parchment, bamboo, or leather\u2014the risk was the same.<\/span><\/p>\n

Official feline teams in service<\/span><\/h2>\n

Cats thus became part of the staff, often with official recognition:<\/span><\/p>\n