Israel Museum

The Israel Museum was interesting and educational as we walked through collections of centuries-old Israeli artifacts. The Shrine of the Book is a wing of the Israel Museum that houses the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was built as a repository for the first seven scrolls discovered at Qumran in 1947. The unique white dome embodies the lids of the jars in which the first scrolls were found. As the fragility of the scrolls makes it impossible to display all continuously, a system of rotation is used. After a scroll has been exhibited for 3–6 months, it is removed from its showcase and placed temporarily in a special storeroom, where it "rests" from exposure. Adjacent to the Shrine is the model of Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period, which reconstructs the topography and architectural character of the city as it was before its destruction by the Romans in 70 AD.Read more