Its board chairman, Steve Green, who is also president of the Hobby Lobby stores, is returning 11,500 antiquities from his biblical art collection to the governments of Iraq and Egypt, with the assistance of the museum he opened in late 2017.

Questions about the provenance of Green's $30 million collection, which he began amassing in 2009, have plagued the museum for years.

In 2017, Hobby Lobby returned 5,500 smuggled Iraqi artifacts and paid a $3 million fine as part of a settlement with the US government. A lawsuit had accused the company of importing the ancient cuneiform tablets by claiming they were tile samples. Read more

The fragments have been on exhibit at the museum since its opening in 2017.

The scroll fragments were purchased after 2002, when counterfeits of artifacts believed to be part of the 1947 Dead Sea Discovery entered the antiquities market.

Experts began questioning the fragments' authenticity in 2016.

In February 2019, the museum hired the investigators from a firm called Art Fraud Insights to inspect the remaining 11 scrolls.

Comprehensive imaging, analysis, and physical examinations of the artifacts were undertaken.

"After an exhaustive review of all the imaging and scientific analysis results, it is evident that none of the textual fragments in the Museum of the Bible's Dead Sea Scroll collection are authentic," Colette Loll, founder and director of Art Fraud Insights, says.

"Moreover, each exhibits characteristics that suggest they are deliberate forgeries created in the twentieth century with the intent to mimic authentic Dead Sea Scroll fragments."

These findings have no bearing on the nearly 100,000 Dead Sea Scroll fragments that comprise the Shrine of the Book.

This is on display in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

Source

• USA Today
• Image: Daily Express

Until the forgeries were exposed, the scroll fragments were considered among the most valuable and historically significant items in the museum's collection.

The museum says a German testing company has concluded the fragments on display show "characteristics inconsistent with an ancient origin."

They will therefore no longer be on display at the museum.

"Though we had hoped the testing would render different results, this is an opportunity to educate the public on the importance of verifying the authenticity of rare biblical artifacts, the elaborate testing process undertaken and our commitment to transparency," says Jeffrey Kloha, chief curatorial officer for Museum of the Bible.

The five scrolls represent a major proportion of the museum's 16-piece collection of Dead Sea scrolls.

Doubts about their authenticity were first raised two years ago by scholars in "Brill", which is an academic journal.

Since then, Kipp Davis of Trinity Western University has argued that at least seven of the scrolls were fake, based on the language used in the fragments and other textual evidence.

The announcement of the forgery comes after years of controversy and criticism over the museum's approach to scholarship.

In 2017 the museum's owner, craft store chain Hobby Lobby, was forced to return 3,800 ancient artifacts to Iraq. This was after the Department of Justice concluded that the company had acquired them illegally and had them shipped to corporate headquarters without sufficiently documenting their provenance.

To follow the correct process is important, partly to avoid acquiring forgeries, but also because illegal antiquities deals, particularly in the Middle East, can provide a major source of funds for international terrorism.

Source

• Smithsonion
• Vox
• Image: CNN

The US$500 million museum's aim is to entertain and educate visitors about the Bible's history and significance.

Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the Israeli Ambassador to the United States and the museum's co-founder, evangelical businessman Steve Green, were at the opening.

Wuerl spoke on behalf of Pope Francis.

Through Wuerl, Francis sent his "fervent hope that ... through its extensive collections and exhibits [the museum] will promote a better understanding ... of the rich and complex history of the biblical text".

He hoped the "enduring power of the museum's message" would "inspire and shape the lives of individuals and peoples of every time and place."

Francis also said he hoped that through engaging with scholars of various traditions the museum would help advance inter-religious understanding and cooperation.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also sent a message.

He said "the Jewish people are known as the people of the book because of the centrality of the Hebrew Bible in our faith, our history, and our lives.

"Our roots in the land of Israel as described in the holy scriptures stretch back nearly 4,000 years, but it was only 70 years ago after millennia of exile that we were finally able to reconstitute our nation and home at the Holy land..."

"...By featuring Jewish, Protestant, Catholic and other faith traditions, the museum highlights our shared values and beliefs as well as the history and development of the Judeo-Christian culture over the centuries."

The Israeli Association for Antiquities sent a number of artifacts including a large stone from the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

Visitors are encouraged to touch the stone.

A whole floor includes an interactive exhibit featuring "The World of Jesus of Nazareth".

It includes replicas of homes and what food in Nazareth might have looked like in the time of Jesus.

Although the museum is supposed to be non-sectarian, there are few Arabic script exhibits apart from temporary items on loan from Jerusalem.

One of the permanent features in Arabic is a translation of a psalm engraved on a window.

It is set alongside 15 other panels in various languages in the entrance's main atrium.

There are also a couple of texts in Judeo-Arabic, varieties of Arabic spoken by Jews and written in the Hebrew script.

Arabic's absence elsewhere - including the 10-language digital guide - has raised questions about the museum's goals and target audience.

Source

• Town Hall
• The Atlantic
• Aljazeera
• Catholic News Service
• Image: Our Community Now at DC