My wife and I traveled through Washington D.C. yesterday and on the way visited The Museum of the Bible.
As an amateur photographer, I was quite eager to take some pictures of the recently renovated reflection pool and surrounding monuments.
Unfortunately it was raining quite heavily so we spent all our time at the museum. The museum is just a little over a mile from the mall. We never did make it to the mall.
We arrived on Tuesday, when entrance to the museum is free.
But the special exhibits still require a special ticket - but no cost for seniors! woo-hoo.
The main floor features The Megiddo Mosaic [LINK], a recently discovered artifact with thousands of tiles from the oldest Christian church known in the world, dated to around 230.
An inscription reads, “Gaianus, also called Porphyrius, centurion, our brother, has made the mosaic at his own expense as an act of generosity. Brutius has carried out the work.”
A second inscription reads, “Akeptous, the friend of God, has offered the table to God Jesus Christ [for] remembrance.”
This is the earliest archaeological mention of Jesus Christ and is evidence early Christians thought Jesus was not just a good teacher, but actually God.
The floor also has an octagonal medallion with a depiction of two fish. The Greek word for fish, ichthys, was used as an acronym for the phrase Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior, and served to remind Jesus’ followers of his instructions to “fish for people” (Matt. 4:19).
The second floor has a second exhibit, Christianity in America.
As you climb the stair to the third floor you see a stunning replica of Michelangelo's Pietà.
And an exhibit about Scripture, its transmission and dissemination.
The fourth floor displays an exhibition of the Dead Sea Scrolls (there until September 7th, 2026), with many other artifacts supplied by the Israel Antiquities Authority.
We were told that for every day a scroll fragment is on display, it must rest in a climate controlled vault for 5 days, so after September the scrolls in this exhibit will not be seen for another 5 years.
You could see the difference in printing style from older fragments to more recent ones. In either case, I was amazed by the small size of the print of the DSS; most of the pictures I’ve seen in books tend to magnify them.
Definitely worth the time to visit!
Rob
As an amateur photographer, I was quite eager to take some pictures of the recently renovated reflection pool and surrounding monuments.
Unfortunately it was raining quite heavily so we spent all our time at the museum. The museum is just a little over a mile from the mall. We never did make it to the mall.
We arrived on Tuesday, when entrance to the museum is free.
But the special exhibits still require a special ticket - but no cost for seniors! woo-hoo.
The main floor features The Megiddo Mosaic [LINK], a recently discovered artifact with thousands of tiles from the oldest Christian church known in the world, dated to around 230.
An inscription reads, “Gaianus, also called Porphyrius, centurion, our brother, has made the mosaic at his own expense as an act of generosity. Brutius has carried out the work.”
A second inscription reads, “Akeptous, the friend of God, has offered the table to God Jesus Christ [for] remembrance.”
This is the earliest archaeological mention of Jesus Christ and is evidence early Christians thought Jesus was not just a good teacher, but actually God.
The floor also has an octagonal medallion with a depiction of two fish. The Greek word for fish, ichthys, was used as an acronym for the phrase Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior, and served to remind Jesus’ followers of his instructions to “fish for people” (Matt. 4:19).
The second floor has a second exhibit, Christianity in America.
As you climb the stair to the third floor you see a stunning replica of Michelangelo's Pietà.
And an exhibit about Scripture, its transmission and dissemination.
The fourth floor displays an exhibition of the Dead Sea Scrolls (there until September 7th, 2026), with many other artifacts supplied by the Israel Antiquities Authority.
We were told that for every day a scroll fragment is on display, it must rest in a climate controlled vault for 5 days, so after September the scrolls in this exhibit will not be seen for another 5 years.
You could see the difference in printing style from older fragments to more recent ones. In either case, I was amazed by the small size of the print of the DSS; most of the pictures I’ve seen in books tend to magnify them.
Definitely worth the time to visit!
Rob
