Museum of the Bible

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Museum of the Bible, November 2017

The Museum of the Bible is a Bible museum in Washington, DC It opened on November 17, 2017. The original aim when planning the museum was to "fill the living word of God with life and [...] to promote trust in the absolute authority and reliability" of the Bible . The mission statement was later reformulated in such a way that the museum served and invited people to study the Bible.

Objects relating to the history of the Bible are on display, including valuable manuscripts and prints. There are also scenic replicas of Bible episodes in which actors are also involved who recite Bible texts.

The museum was built in a converted old building on 300 D. Street SW in downtown Washington. The property was purchased for approximately $ 50 million. The museum has a total area of ​​approximately 40,000 m² (430,000 square feet). The total cost is estimated at $ 500 million.

The museum is largely financed and was created on the initiative of evangelical entrepreneur Steve Green , owner of the Hobby Lobby furniture and handicraft chain , and his family. The holdings are taken from the Green Collection , which Green has accumulated since 2009 , but only comprise a fraction of the pieces he has acquired. His work as a collector is viewed critically, among other things, because he was involved in antiquity smuggling and therefore had to refund objects and pay a fine of 3 million US dollars. The museum therefore only contains around 2800 items from the 40,000-piece collection, the provenance of which has largely been clarified.

Prior to opening, the Museum of the Bible held several local exhibitions around the world in conjunction with local sponsors; Under the title “Our Book”, around 120 exhibits, most of them from the holdings of the Museum of the Bible, were on view from April 7 to May 13, 2017 in Augsburg . The cooperation partner here was an ecumenical sponsoring group. Most of the exhibits were then shown from May 22 to September 10, 2017 in an exhibition of the same name in Wittenberg . The cooperation partner was the Zinzendorf Institute (a working group of the Christ-Treff eV Marburg). Roland Werner from Marburg was the curator of these two exhibitions.

Five of a total of 16 scrolls on display at the Museum of the Bible were removed from the collection in October 2018. The Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) in Germany identified them as modern forgeries.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ pro-medienmagazin ( Christian media association KEP ): US capital: Bible Museum opened in Washington DC. 17th November 2017.
  2. ^ The Washington Post : Critics call it evangelical propaganda. Can the Museum of the Bible convert them? 4th September 2015.
  3. ↑ Neue Zürcher Zeitung : And God saw that it was good. 22nd November 2017.
  4. ^ Österreichischer Rundfunk : Museum of the Bible opens in Washington. 17th November 2017.
  5. ↑ Luzerner Zeitung : Controversy about the Bible Museum in Washington. 16th November 2017.
  6. ^ "Our book" Augsburg Bible exhibition opens. Retrieved December 9, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Wittenberg Bible Exhibition "Our Book". Retrieved December 9, 2017 .
  8. ↑ Katholisch.de: Qumran scrolls falsified, the Bible Museum removed exhibits , accessed on October 23, 2018
  9. ↑ Spiegel.de: The scrolls on display are forged

Web links

Commons : Museum of the Bible  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 38 ° 53 '5.2 "  N , 77 ° 1' 1.9"  W.