Strata: An Open Book

The Israel Museum has reopened the newly renovated Shrine of the Book, which houses the Dead Sea Scrolls and other archaeological treasures related to Jewish and Christian history.

The year-long renovations, which cost $3 million, preserve the original design of the main exhibition spaces and improve and reorganize the displays. New lighting and environmental controls were also installed.

According to Adolfo Roitman, the head of the Shrine of the Book and curator of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Shrine is hoping to expand its role from the study of the scrolls to the study of the Hebrew Bible. “After all,” Roitman said, “the building is called the Shrine of the Book, not the Shrine of the Scrolls.” One example of the shift is the reorganization of the exhibits to highlight the tenth-century A.D. Aleppo Codex, which was the oldest and most complete compilation of the Hebrew Bible until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.