This exhibition closed January 6, 2008.

The Experts Say...

The exhibit deserves the highest praise, and is truly worthy of an once-in-a-lifetime visit to the SDNHM, more than once before the year's end. Prof. Risa Levitt Kohn and her team have outdone themselves by assembling the most impressive collection of Dead Sea Scrolls anytime, anywhere. Once you experience the scrolls in person you will understand their amazing allure. Now that San Diego has lived with the scrolls for three months, the newly-arrived second set of scrolls will be all the more astounding as our appreciation deepens for this great archeological, religious, and cultural treasure, and for their exceptional reception at our own SDNHM.
David Noel Freedman

 
I've seen many, if not most of the exhibits of the scrolls. The one in San Diego has the most scroll fragments and supporting material, stays on for the longest time, and is the most original and imaginative of them all. It definitely is a must to see the exhibit before it's too late.
Prof. Emanuel Tov, Editor-in-Chief, International Publication Team of the Dead Sea Scrolls
 
The San Diego Natural History Museum's exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls does an excellent job of putting the Scrolls in their historical, cultural, religious and geographical context.  Especially impressive were the series of large photographs of the Holy Land and its geography, flora and fauna.  Children have the opportunity for some "hands-on" experience, like putting together a Qumran pot.  I urge everyone in the San Diego area to visit this exhibit!
Sidnie White Crawford
 
As a scroll scholar, the recent series of exhibits in North America has been a unique opportunity to see manuscripts in person that are normally stored out of sight in the bowels of the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem. The exhibits have been of exceptionally high quality, but the care that the San Diego Natural History Museum has taken in both composition and presentation is without par. And now comes a new twist: a second set of scrolls makes its appearance on Oct 15th and remains through December. As keen as I was to see the first set, this second is even more important. It includes 4Q521, Messianic Apocalypse, that must have been on Jesus’ reading list as evidenced in his answer to John’s challenge to his messianic mission in Matt 11:1-5; and 4Q51, 4QSamuel a, that has already brought changes in our English translations of 1-2 Samuel and is bound to produce more now that it is finally published (2005!). I am coming back for another look in November.
Martin Abegg Jr.
 
The new installation of the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition takes on an entirely new life in Dan Diego with a refreshing rearrangement of materials and newly written legends. In addition, the geophysical environment of the site of Qumran on the Dead Sea is given a fresh look with superb aerial photographs by Duby Tal; and don't miss the photographs and art on display in other sections of the museum.
Eric Meyers
 
The exhibition in the San Diego Natural History Museum displays not only the fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the cultural-historical and scientific significance of which is undoubted. One can see here the pages from the oldest Hebrew Bibles in the form of codex from the 10th - 11th centuries, as well as handwritten and printed Biblical texts from later epochs until our time. Surprisingly, such a "philological" exposition doesn't contradict the "natural historical" context of the Museum as it is supplemented with the imitation of a cave, exhibits dealing with the archaeological excavations in Qumran as well as with the photos of Palestinian landscapes. As a result the exhibition seams to be interesting to a wide circle of visitors, both for children and for adults from housekeepers to professors.
We may congratulate the staff of the Museum and the curator of the exhibition on the very interesting concept and the highly professional realization of the project.
Olga Vasilyeva
 

After seeing all six previous Exhibits, in my opinion this is one of the best, if not the best so far. The photographs of Israel and the Dead Sea are spectacular, and surpass the photography featured at all the other Museums. I found the display of the Scrolls themselves most effective, with the descriptions at eye level rather than extending too far down for the viewer.  Moreover, your use of light is very effective, and whoever is responsible for this aspect is to be congratulated. Speaking as a Scrolls scholar (not as an expert in lighting), my observation is that—by not h aving a dark area around the fragments (which was the case with some of the other Museums)—you have succeeded in immersing the Scrolls in a luminosity that is most pleasing to the eye.
Finally, having Risa as Curator has made a big difference, with respect to both the selection of Scrolls and contents of the Scrolls Exhibit. I understand that the Curators at all the other Museums were not academics (or at least not Biblical scholars). As I walked through the Exhibit and paged through the Catalog Book, her scholar’s touch was time and again patently obvious to me.
Peter Flint
 

The show is fabulous! It's a superb display of the texts (they are so well lit!). But what I particularly enjoyed was the exhibit on the conservation of the scrolls.
Carol Newsom

 
Thank you for doing such an outstanding job planning and constructing the exhibit. I told my wife (who has spoken at some of the earlier exhibits) that she really has to see this one because it is so rich.
Eugene Eulrich

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