Israel Displays Rare Biblical Manuscripts for First Time

More than 200 of the rarest and most important Biblical manuscripts and texts were on display Wednesday night in an historical “Book of Books” exhibition at the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem.

Among the manuscripts are the original fragments from the Septuagint, the earliest New Testament Scriptures, exquisite illuminated manuscripts, rare texts from the Cairo Geniza and original pages from the Gutenberg Bible. The exhibition traces the history of the Jewish Bible, the Jewish roots of Christianity and the dissemination of monotheistic faith.

The exhibition later will travel to the Vatican and to Washington D.C., where it will be permanently displayed in a museum which is being built next to the Smithsonian primarily for the purpose of hosting the rare texts and manuscripts.

“It is extremely fitting that this exhibition and these texts will be unveiled for the first time ever in Jerusalem, mere meters from where many of the events contained in the Bible took place,” said Amanda Weiss, Director of the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem.