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Dead Sea Scrolls

  • 9 July 2013 till 5 January 2014
  • Drents Museum

The Drents Museum, in cooperation with the Israel Antiquities Authority and the University of Groningen, has once again succeeded in bringing an archeological phenomenon of world renown to the Netherlands.

From July 9, 2013 till January 5, 2014, the museum in Assen will organize a unique exhibition on the Dead Sea Scrolls. It will be the first time in the Netherlands that an entire exhibition will be dedicated to this famous discovery. The curators of the exhibition are Prof. Dr. Mladen Popović of the Qumran Institute, University of Groningen (faculty of Theology and Religious Studies), and Mrs. Adi Ziv of the Israel Antiquities Authority.​

The exhibition shows original Biblical manuscripts and objects from the 3rd century BC till the 2nd century C.E. as well as alternative texts which have not been incorporated in the Bible. Fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls which have never before been shown to the public will be displayed exclusively in Assen. In addition, recently excavated objects from ancient Judea will be shown, from Qumran (the site at which the scrolls were found) as well as from Jerusalem.

The exhibition will place the Dead Sea Scrolls within the cultural and historical context of the Greco-Roman period in which they were written and ultimately hidden during the Jewish revolt against Rome (66-70 C.E.). This revolt will be given a great deal of attention, showing unique objects which will feature both the Roman legions and the Jewish rebels. In addition, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the research into the manuscript will be shown by means of films and pictures.

In the Netherlands, the exhibition will be shown exclusively in the Drents Museum. Afterwards, the exhibition will travel to the Schlossmuseum in Linz (Austria). The exhibition will be designed by Kossmann.deJong Exhibition Architects.

The exhibition is part of the Drents Museum’s policy to show international archeological exhibitions. Together with the burial complex of Tutankhamen in Egypt and the Terracotta Army in Xi’an, China, the Dead Sea Scrolls are considered one of the major archeological discoveries of the twentieth century.

The Drents Museum has presented successful archeological exhibitions such as The Terracotta Army from Xi’an in 2008, Gold from Georgia in 2010 and China’s Golden Age in 2011.