WASHINGTON, November 7, 2011 – A lifetime cultural opportunity is the Dead Sea Scrolls: Life and Faith in Biblical Times exhibition at Manhattan’s Discovery Times Square until May, 2012 when it moves to Philadelphia.
The stunning and unique collection was organized by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and contains the most comprehensive collection of ancient artifacts from Israel ever organized, including the priceless 2,000 year-old Dead Sea Scrolls and a three-ton stone from the Western Wall of the Second Temple. Hundreds of biblical era objects provide a window into the period when Jewish and Christian traditions and beliefs emerged in Israel, which is centerpiece of the Holy Land.
The 20 Dead Sea Scrolls in the exhibition include pieces from Genesis, Psalms, Exodus, Isaiah and others. Before their 1947 discovery in Israel caves, the earliest known texts of the Hebrew Bible were from about 1,000 years after the scrolls were created. Scholars have dated the found 800 scrolls and scroll fragments scrolls to the 200-year period prior to destruction of the temple in A.D. 70 by Romans.
The scrolls are considered one of the 20th century’s great archaeological finds, and a key to demonstration of how consistent biblical texts were over the centuries despite possible variations in interpretations.
Other exhibition highlights include more than 500 artifacts from the Biblical to Byzantine Period, including some objects that have never been publicly displayed.
If you have never been, or don’t expect to travel to the Holy Land, this is a splendid opportunity to regard some of its most important connections with the past and enduring importance to the Christian and Jewish faiths.
The New York exhibition was produced by Discovery Times Square and Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute, where it will move for a five-month run in May. Read more about the scrolls here:
Read more of Ruth Hill’s travel columns at Contemporary Christian Travel in the Washington Times Communities. Follow her on twitter @christiantrav.
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