Mar 13 2010
Dead Sea Scrolls at the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul
Yesterday I wrote that the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition was opening at the Science Museum of Minnesota and I didn’t know when we’d get there.
Today we went to see it.
It happened that we had a free family day and two things we wanted to do in the Cities, so off we went. We were concerned about not getting tickets ahead of time, but we arrived at 1:15 and got tickets for 1:30 exhibit admittance, so that was not a problem. It was busy but not crowded in the exhibit hall.
In contrast to the Star Wars exhibit a few years ago, I knew that this would not be interactive, so I wasn’t sure how it would be for kids. At our 1:30 time, we were allowed into an area where we could pick up handheld listening devices, and we had time to practice using them. There’s one set of broadcasts for adults and another for kids. After a few minutes there, we were led to an area with benches, where we heard a short introduction to the exhibition, and then we entered the exhibit area itself.
The kids really liked listening to the information as we moved through the exhibit. I listened to the kids’ version most of the time as well, so I’d know what they had heard and could ask them questions and elaborate on things they had heard and seen. Many of the pieces of the exhibit were easily related to their Sunday School lessons–the size of the temple in Jerusalem, the oil-burning lamps, the jars like at the wedding in Cana. While our older boys went with my husband, I stayed with our four- and six-year-old daughters and they kept a good level of interest throughout the exhibit, especially for something with very few hands-on opportunities.
We learned a lot about the Dead Sea Scrolls and about other archeological finds in the area, and found that the scrolls are kept safely in Jerusalem. Upon hearing this, I almost gave up hope that we’d see the scrolls themselves, but just then we rounded the bend to a dimly lit room where there were indeed parts of the scrolls. We could see the actual pieces under glass, as well as displays showing photographs of them and translations. It was very interesting.
Dead Sea Scrolls Genesis. Photo credit: Science Museum of Minnesota.
After the scrolls, we entered another exhibit area, that of the St. John’s Bible. The St. John’s Bible is the first hand-written illuminated Bible to be made in 500 years, since the printing press was brought into use. The illustrations, or illuminations, are made with real gold and platinum. On display are actual pages of the Bible, and when all of the pages are finished, they will be bound into the St. John’s Bible. Explanations about the process and the artwork accompany each page on display. The calligraphy and illuminations are beautiful and fit the words of the page.
The St. John’s Bible fits well with the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition, as both are works of scribes–some ancient and some modern.
All in all, we spent an hour and fifteen minutes in the special exhibition areas.
Tickets for the Dead Sea Scrolls include admission to the Science Museum of Minnesota and range from $22-$34, but museum members get a substantial discount, so if you haven’t considered a museum membership before, now might be a good time. Discounted rates of $6-$8 are also available for those with limited incomes; the Great Tix program is excellent in making the museum, including special exhibits, accessible to people of all income levels.
The Dead Sea Scrolls will be at the Science Museum through October 24, 2010.
While the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition is not interactive, I was pleasantly surprised at how our children, ages 4-9, were interested in it. This was helped dramatically by the handheld listening devices, which allowed them to learn about the pieces as we moved through the exhibit.
Minnemom,
We went to this exhibit a few years ago in Columbus. It was a stand-alone exhibit. We did have the kids or adult audio players. However, the scrolls were out of the exhibit the day we were there?? Bummer. Also, I think we would have liked this better if it wasn’t rooms and cases full of pottery chars. We would have especially liked it if we had all had the same level of old Testament bible study that I had had. Lots of explaining. I like the fact that your exhibit was a traveling space within your science museum – much better environment.
Because the space was a little boring for kids and the scrolls were missing, we choose not to recommend it to our readers on our web updates. I think teens would find more value in the space than kids.
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We went 2 years ago to this exhibit at the local science museum. I went with my Dad and 4 kids. It was very eye-opening and the scrolls were at the very end of the wandering through the other exhibits (interesting facts about the area they were found in and the history). They seemed to enjoy the hands on exhibits, but were burnt out by the time we got to the actual scrolls. They had the room darkened, but it was amazing to glimpse this history. We found a man who was part of the exhibit that was willing to write my daughters name out in arabic. It was well put together.
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[...] travel at Travels with Children, where you can read specifics about the family-friendliness of the Dead Sea Scrolls [...]
Hello where is the exibition off to next is it New York? Kind Regards Heather
Heather, I don’t know where it’s going next. Similar exhibitions have been held in other cities, but each one is unique in some ways. I’m sorry that I can’t be of more help. Linda
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