Future Christian Bible Museum May Partner with Israeli Museums

The upcoming international Bible museum in Washington, D.C., which has yet to be named and is slated for opening in 2017, will seek to partner with Israeli museums and others around the world to “share the history, story, and impact of Jewish and Christian texts.”

The international Bible museum is an initiative of Steven Green, president of the national retail chain Hobby Lobby, whose Green Collection is the world’s largest private collection of rare biblical texts and artifacts. Green says he plans to donate his entire collection to the upcoming museum.

“Besides an investment in the hundreds of millions of dollars to preserve and share the history, story and impact of the Jewish and Christian texts, and the huge investment for continued research and resources, the museum will also have a space offered to Israeli institutions for display,” Jerry Pattengale, director of the Green Scholars Initiative, the research arm of the Green Collection, told JNS.org.

Pattengale added that in addition to rotating exhibit space, the Bible museum would offer more than 12,000 square feet of its permanent space to the works of “major world museums,” which may include Jewish or Israeli institutions.

“This is a wonderful opportunity to have a special presence a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol,” Pattengale said.

Currently, a number of ancient manuscripts and artifacts from the Green Collection are on loan as part of an exhibit entitled “Book of Books” at Jerusalem’s Bible Lands Museum.