The exhibit called Dead Sea Scrolls: Life and Faith in Ancient Times is coming to The Leonardo in Salt Lake City this November. In making the announcement Wednesday, the museum’s director Alexandra Hesse says it’s the largest collection of ancient artifacts ever displayed outside of Israel. She says Brigham Young University as well as the city’s Interfaith Roundtable will be adding expertise and dialogue to the exhibit.
“And in bringing this exhibit to Utah really what we hope to do is to encourage conversation and introspection around what these precious documents and artifacts have meant to the world historically as well as what they continue to mean to us today,” says Hesse.
She highlighted the role BYU has had with its work to index, translate and digitize the scrolls for a better understanding of them. Israeli Consul General David Siegel says an ongoing relationship between Utah and Israel has BYU at the forefront with its campus in Jerusalem.
“The scholarly relationship that we have over these ancient texts is so symbolic of Israel and Utah’s future,” says Siegel.
The exhibit includes a massive section of the temple mount ‘wailing wall’. The Utah State Legislature, Governor's Office of Economic Development and the Larry H. Miller Group of companies are being credited for the Salt Lake stop of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
