Afghans are scrambling to protect their art from the Taliban. Upheavals have forced culture underground before.

Using cars, carts, canoes and even fruit crates, groups of librarians, book collectors and local families transported the texts in metal boxes to private homes and other safe places around Timbuktu, the BBC reported. They rescued their city’s heritage piece by piece, ferrying it out first in vehicles and then later by boat, according to National Geographic.