Art, Artifacts Back On Display For Israel Museum Reopening

Workers in the Israel Museum place Auguste Rodin's "Eve" on a pedestal, following five months of closure due to the coronavirus pandemic, in Jerusalem, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020. The Israel Museum, the country's largest cultural institution, is returning the priceless Dead Sea scrolls and other treasured artworks to its galleries ahead of this week's reopening to the public. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israel Museum on Tuesday pulled the priceless Dead Sea Scrolls out of a heavily fortified vault ahead of its reopening to the public following a five-month shutdown due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The museum, Israel’s largest cultural institution, closed down in March as the country entered lockdown. But budgetary problems left the Jerusalem museum shuttered after Israel began easing restrictions on public spaces in May.

Most of the museum’s 500 employees have returned from months of furlough ahead of Thursday’s reopening, which will also see the return of other treasured artworks and artifacts. Throughout the empty galleries, curators and cleaners dusted off works, removed protective coverings and returned masterpieces from storage.

The Dead Sea Scrolls — fragile, two millennia-old parchments that include the oldest existing copies of Biblical texts — came out of “deep sleep” in the museum’s climate-controlled vaults to return to display, Shrine of the Book curator Hagit Maoz said.

The delicate scrolls require low light and humidity for their long-term preservation.

“Each scroll sits in the showcase only for three months, then we rotate the parts,” said Maoz. “Because we didn’t know how long we won’t be here ... to be on the safe side we decided to take everything down” to the vault.

In the museum’s modern art wing, senior curator Adina Kamien oversaw the re-installation of several statues by celebrated French sculptor Auguste Rodin, including the iconic “The Kiss.”

“I feel that the museum is returning to life,” she said. “A museum that can’t welcome its patrons is a dead museum. An artwork and exhibit are not complete without visitors.”

Though the country began rebooting the economy in May, the Israel Museum struggled to raise funding to allow it to “sustainably open for the duration of the crisis,” director Ido Bruno said.

Israel closed its borders at the start of the lockdown, and the international tourism on which the museum relies for ticket sales plummeted from a record high of over 900,000 visitors in 2019 to zero by mid-March. The museum received funds from American donors and a pledge of funds from the Culture Ministry that helped it reopen.

In line with Health Ministry regulations, entry to the museum will be restricted to a cap of 2,000 people at any given time, and tickets must be ordered online in advance.

“It’s very, very difficult to be a director of a closed museum, because museums want to be open,” Bruno said. “They want to welcome people. They want to open up.”

By ILAN BEN ZION

Pennsylvania Convention Center To Host Exhibit Showcasing Dead Sea Scroll Fragments And 1st Edition King James Bible

Originally exhibited at the Vatican, Verbum Domini II: God’s Word Goes Out to the Nations will be on display at the Pennsylvania Convention Center Monday, September 21 – September 26. (Image courtesy World Meeting of Families 2015)

As preparations continue in anticipation of Pope Francis’ visit for the World Meeting of Families, the Pennsylvania Convention Center readies itself for Verbum Domini II: God’s Word Goes Out to the Nations, an exhibition formerly on display at the Vatican in Rome.

Verbum Domini (which translates to “the word of the Lord”), refers to a communication from Pope XVI as to how the Catholic church approaches its scripture, the Bible.

For six days, September 21-26, visitors have the opportunity to see breathtaking biblical artifacts collected from around the globe from the Museum of the Bible, a center currently under construction in Washington D.C.

Of the 40,000 objects in the private collection, 80 pieces will be on display in Philadelphia, all of which carry great religious and historical significance.

Visitors will find the free exhibit in Hall G, transformed into eight galleries with 24 display cases housing the artifacts.

The heart of the exhibition features small sections from the Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered between 1946 and 1956 in a series of caves close to Jerusalem. The scrolls consist of 981 texts with major religious importance, of which more than 220 are Biblical texts.

Additionally, the display includes five pages of the Bodmer Psalms Codex, a near complete copy of the book of Psalms in Greek dating back between third and fourth century CE as well as the manuscripts known as the Codex Climaci Rescriptus, which multispectral imaging has revealed to contain parts of more than nine manuscripts.

For many, though, the highlight of the exhibit could be the first edition of the “He” King James Bible from 1611. This version distinguishes itself from a second printing of the same year, the “She” version, in Ruth 3:15. Reading the two verses, “and he went into the citie” versus “and she went into the citie” marks the distinction between the two, the pronoun used identifying which edition.

With only about 50 known “He” versions existing in the world, this is an unlikely chance to see a very rare and sacred text.

Note, too, that this rare view of ancient texts and artifacts is just one of many papal visit-related exhibitions at museums in Philadelphia.

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Verbum Domini II: God’s Word Goes Out to the Nations​

When: September 21-26

Where: Pennsylvania Convention Center, 1101 Arch Street

Cost: Free

More info: www.worldmeeting2015.org

 By Chris Malo, www.uwishunu.com

'Dead Sea Scrolls: The Exhibition' Opens March 10th At The The California Science Center

The California Science Center in cooperation with the Israel Antiquities Authority is proud to present "Dead Sea Scrolls: The Exhibition", the largest of its kind ever mounted outside of Israel, featuring over 600 ancient artifacts. Opening March 10, 2015 at the California Science Center, the exhibition explores the science and significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls, manuscripts composed, copied and hidden in caves 2000 years ago. Over half of the scrolls on display have never before been seen in the US, and some have never been exhibited since their discovery. The Los Angeles presentation is made possible with generous support from presenting sponsors The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation, Jewish Life Television and the Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles.

Of special interest will be sections from ten of the Dead Sea Scrolls, including parts of the oldest discovered copies of the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament. The fragmentary scrolls in the exhibition contain passages from Genesis, Isaiah, Psalms, and even, an ancient marriage contract dated to the 1st century CE. Visitors will experience the Dead Sea Scrolls within the rich historical and cultural context of ancient Israel. Through multimedia exhibits, guests will explore the science and technology used to date, assemble and preserve these ancient manuscripts for future generations.

Additional highlights include a 3-ton stone from Jerusalem's Western Wall, limestone capitals from the First Temple period (1000-586 BCE), ossuaries (ancient bone boxes) from the early Roman period, and a signature preserved for millennia on the unique Archer Seal. Among the over 600 artifacts from the Bronze Age to the Byzantine period in Israel are examples of delicate jewelry, pottery shards bearing royal seals, weapons including sling-stones and arrowheads, and many objects excavated from active archaeological sites in Israel.

"Dead Sea Scrolls: The Exhibition" is created by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) from the collections of the Israel National Treasures and features the most comprehensive collection of ancient artifacts from Israel ever organized. Presenting sponsors of "Dead Sea Scrolls: The Exhibition" are The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation, Jewish Life Television and the Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles, with additional support from the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, the Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation, the Herta Amir and Paul Amir Foundation, the Stanley and Joyce Black Family Foundation, the County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors—Zev Yaroslavsky (District 3), the Teichman Family Charitable Foundation, Irwin S. Field, the Max Webb Foundation and Barry and Mireille Wolfe.

"This exhibition demonstrates a remarkable blend of science and history," said California Science Center President, Jeffrey Rudolph. "Cutting-edge conservation technology will allow our guests to see the most significant archeological find of the last century."
"We can only piece together the past by examining and interpreting objects from daily life or ancient written documents," said Dr. Risa Levitt Kohn, Professor at San Diego State University and one of the exhibition curators. "This exhibition reveals in ancient pots, coins, weapons, jewelry, and handwritten texts, a record of extraordinary human achievement constituting a significant contribution to our own cultural legacy."

The many highlights of the archaeological materials in the exhibition include the following:

• A female figurine believed to represent Asherah, whom ancient Israelites may have thought to be the consort to the god of Israel

• Arrowheads and sling-stones from Lachish, the site of a fierce battle between Israelites and Assyrians

• A storage jar stamped with a seal indicating that it belonged to royalty

• Ossuaries, or small stone boxes, that once contained human bones — three by coincidence, bear the names Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, names commonly used in the years preceding Christianity

• A finely wrought 2,000-year-old gold earring inlaid with pearls.

The centerpiece of "Dead Sea Scrolls: The Exhibition" will be the presentation of 20 texts (ten scrolls at a time, in two rotations) that are part of the remarkably preserved trove known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. The scrolls date from 250 BCE to 68 CE and were discovered in a group of caves near Khirbet Qumran, close to the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea. Most of the texts are written in Hebrew, though some are in Aramaic and Greek.

The first cache of scrolls was discovered in 1947 when a Bedouin shepherd casually tossed a rock into a cave and heard a pot shatter. Over the following eight years, archaeologists and Bedouin found thousands of parchment fragments in eleven caves, including the oldest known copies of the Hebrew Bible. Scholars pieced the parchments together, some no larger than a postage stamp, during the decades that followed. An exhibition video reveals fascinating details of the discovery and ongoing conservation of the scrolls.

The exhibition is curated by Dr. Risa Levitt Kohn, Professor of Hebrew Bible and Judaism at San Diego State University; and Ms. Debora Ben Ami, Iron Age Curator, Israeli Antiquities Authority.
To enhance their experience, Science Center visitors are encouraged to view JERUSALEM 3D, premiering at the California Science Center IMAX® Theater on March 10, 2015. Narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch ("The Imitation Game," "Star Trek into the Darkness," PBS's "Sherlock"), this giant screen film adventure immerses audiences in a cinematic journey—soaring high above the Holy Land and plunging deep into the vibrant Old City— to experience iconic sites cherished by billions, and explore on a grand scale the intersection of science, history and religion in this ancient, enigmatic place. JERUSALEM 3D is an original production from Cosmic Picture and Arcane Pictures, and distributed by National Geographic Studios, with a run time of 43-minutes.