Culture
President Rivlin accompanied the return of the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Shrine of the Book
By Itzhak Rabihiya
(SNN, Jerusalme) - President Rivlin visited the Israel Museum to accompany the return of the Dead Sea Scrolls from the strong-room to their display cases in the Shrine of the Book. The scrolls were kept in the strong-room for several months because of the coronavirus pandemic and they will be displayed on public view as the museum opens again for visitors this Thursday.
Accompanied by Director of the Israel Museum Prof. Ido Bruno, Head of the Shrine of the Book and Curator of the Dead Sea Scrolls Dr. Adolfo Roitman, conservator of the scrolls Hasia Rimon and Curator of the Shrine of the Book Hagit Maoz, the president saw the safe retrieval of the scrolls from the strong-room and their reinstallation in the display cases. He also placed an explanatory sign next to the Temple Scroll.
The president said, “The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the caves at Qumran caused us great excitement in the first decade of the State of Israel. It was a greeting from our predecessors, Jews living in this land over two thousand years ago. The Israel Museum undertook not only the job of preserving this valuable cultural asset, but also to display and make it accessible to the Jewish people and to visitors from around the world. I congratulate the Israel Museum on its reopening, according to the instructions. At times like this we thirst for the works of art and archeology at this special museum, and we have a responsibility to our cultural institutions which are the spiritual foundations of the Jewish and democratic State of Israel.”
Prof. Ido Bruno, Director of the Israel Museum: “I would like to thank the President of the State of Israel, a true friend to the museum, for honoring us with his presence at the exciting moment of returning the Dead Sea Scrolls to their rightful place – on display to the public at the Shrine of the Book. We are happy and excited to open the museum after such a long time and are looking forward to seeing the public while ensuring their health.”
The Dead Sea Scrolls are ancient manuscripts discovered between 1947 and 1956 in caves in the Judean Desert. The scrolls are around two thousand years old, dating from the third century BCE to the first century CE, mostly written in Hebrew with some in Aramaic and Greek. The Dead Sea Scrolls are considered one of the most important archeological artefacts in the world.
In 1965 the Shrine of the Book was established to preserve the first scrolls discovered at Qumran. With the outbreak of coronavirus, they were removed from display for the first time and moved for safekeeping. The Temple Scroll is the longest of the Dead Sea Scrolls, measuring 8.146 meters, and contains 66 columns of text. It contains details of matters connected to building the temple and sacrifices there.
Attached photo credit: Haim Zach (GPO)
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