Friday morning at 10:00, TheLeonardo museum in Salt Lake City opens its exhibit The Dead Sea Scrolls – Life and Faith in Ancient Times. The exhibit includes more than 500 artifacts and 20 fragments of the scrolls, which are the oldest example of the Hebrew scriptures in existence. PninaSchor, the scrolls’ curator from the Israel Antiquities Authority, says the parchment and papyrus fragments are kept at the same temperature and humidity as the caves near the Dead Sea where they were discovered in the 1940’s and ‘50’s.
“Not only do we keep them that way in the vault," Schor tells KUER, "but every venue that wants to exhibit the scrolls is demanded to create the same conditions. So if you see the beautiful table, scroll table, in the exhibition, every single scroll has a climate control of its own.”
There’s a side exhibit that shows some of the work done by scholars from Brigham Young University who contributed to the recent publication of the scrolls.
Tickets for the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Leonardo must be purchased for a specific date and time. The exhibit runs through April 27th.