Shrine of the Book Museum: Home of the Dead Sea Scrolls

October 18th 2017

We all grow up reading mystery novels, admiring adventure stories, and secretly playing out the exciting roles within these tales. It’s not often that you get to actually see one unfolding before your eyes within the confines of reality, though. Well, when the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, this is exactly what happened for many adventure-seekers out there. Proving Judaism’s authenticity, finding these scrolls was as exciting as the scene from Indiana Jones when the Ark was uncovered at last.

The Shrine of the Book is a section of the Israel Museum that houses these and other captivating artifacts. If you have any daring in your blood at all, you’ll have to see this exhibit at least once in your life.

The Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dead Sea Scrolls are known to be a set of documents discovered over the course of nine years in various caves along the Dead Sea shoreline. These scrolls are primarily written on ancient parchment and some on papyrus, but that’s not the most fascinating part of the story. It’s the content of the manuscripts that is really going to astonish you.

The scrolls total around 950 assorted Biblical texts, including roughly two hundred copies of the Torah (Hebrew Bible). They date back to the third century BCE, making them more than two thousand years old and the oldest remaining proof of these biblical writings. Also included in these fascinating manuscripts, are commentaries, sectarian, and apocryphal texts that are believed to be part of an ancient library that once existed in the area. The Dead Sea Scrolls are simply some of the most compelling and interesting texts for any Jew or historian to behold and well worth the visit to the Shrine of the Book, an already enticing museum.

Model of Second Temple

In addition to the scrolls, the Shrine of the Book museum also contains an incredibly accurate model of the Second Temple. The massive replica takes up more than 1,000 square meters and was built based on heavily researched Mishnaic sources as well as actually archeological findings from Jerusalem digs. Surrounding the Temple model is a replica of 66 CE Jerusalem, a glorious time for the city. It is truly a magnificent specimen, something that anyone touring Israel should take the time to see.

The museum, which is open every day of the week, holds several other interesting exhibits. So, spend the day, and be amazed at some fabulous historical and Biblical artifacts sure to blow you away.