Visitors to Washington, DC, will soon have the chance to see the Dead Sea Scrolls thanks to a new exhibit at the Museum of the Bible in partnership with the Israel Antiquities Authority.
"Dead Sea Scrolls: The Exhibition" opens at the Museum of the Bible in Washington on November 22. This is the only time fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls will be on the east coast of the United States for their 75th anniversary tour.
In total, there will be 24 fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls available to view, eight at a time. The fragments themselves will be displayed for three months before being switched out. Those fragments will then go into storage for at least five years before they are shown again to the public.
"Really cool"
The Dead Sea Scrolls refer to the ancient writings that were discovered in the mid-20th century in caves in Qumran, located near the Dead Sea. These writings were preserved for more than a millennia and represent some of the most important archaeological finds of all time. The texts are of both religious and sectarian nature.
The first set of eight fragments on display will be at the Museum of the Bible until February 2026. They include excerpts from Genesis, Job, Psalms, and the non-canonical Book of Enoch.
Risa Levitt, one of the curators of the exhibit, told Aleteia that she believes visitors will find the portion of Genesis to be "really cool."
"It represents the beginning of chapter one of Genesis, which even if you don't know much Bible, you probably know that," she said.
This exhibit marks the first time the fragment of the Book of Enoch has been on display to the public.
"In every rotation, we try to bring out a piece that's never been on public display before, and in this particular rotation, it's that piece," Levitt explained. "We also try to give a snapshot of the library, so it's not all Bible texts, and it's not all sectarian texts."
Artifacts
Aside from the scrolls, the exhibit contains artifacts from Jesus' time, such as household items, money, and jewelry. There is a model of the "Jesus Boat," a boat from Jesus' time that was discovered in Sea of Galilee in 1986, as well as the "Magdala Stone," which is from a 1st-century synagogue in Mary Magdalene's hometown.
There are two portions of the exhibit that visitors can directly interact with: a paver stone that was part of the Pilgrim Road in Jerusalem leading to the Second Temple, and a stone from the Western Wall. Visitors are free to walk on and touch that paver stone and piece of the wall, just as Jesus would have.
These interactive elements are among Levitt's favorite parts of the exhibit, she said.
"I love the idea that you can kind of touch and feel these ancient objects and not have to look at them with glass in between and with a magnifying glass," she said.
Visitors to the exhibit will also learn more about the process behind the scrolls' preservation and interpretation. Some of the physical scrolls themselves were charcoal-like, and were only legible with the use of advanced CT-scanning and a computer algorithm to decipher their text.
“We are honored to bring the 75th anniversary tour of the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Museum of the Bible,” said James Sanna, president and CEO of Running Subway Productions, one of the sponsors of the exhibit, in a press release.
“Museum of the Bible is known for hosting historically significant exhibitions and this one, offering visitors a rare glimpse into the ancient world, continues that tradition. We know guests will be inspired by the scrolls and the other notable artifacts on display.”
Dead Sea Scrolls: The Exhibition will be viewable at the Museum of the Bible from November 22, 2025, through September 7, 2026.
