The reopening Thursday of the Israel Museum is a celebration of both culture and history.
Like many of Israel's cultural institutions, the museum has been closed to the public for much of the duration of the coronavirus crisis. The museum complex includes the Shrine of the Book, in which the precious Dead Sea Scrolls are displayed under the most protected of climatic conditions to ensure their preservation.
During the period in which the museum was closed, the scrolls were placed in a climatically controlled strong room. They were returned to the Shrine of the Book on Tuesday, and the first pre-opening visitor to view them was President Reuven Rivlin.
He recalled with great excitement the period between 1946 and 1956 when they were initially discovered by Bedouin shepherds in the Qumran caves in the Judean desert.
The scrolls, which are considered among the oldest Biblical era documents in existence, yielded so much proof of Jewish history, he said.
"They were a greeting from our predecessors – Jews who lived in this land more than two thousand years ago," Rivlin told Israel Museum Director Prof. Ido Bruno and Dr. Adolfo Roitman, who heads the Shrine of the Book and is the curator of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The scrolls were given a permanent home with the Shrine's establishment in 1965. The Shrine of the Book is adjacent to the main museum building. They were removed for safekeeping during the present crisis and have now ben returned to their rightful place.
Bruno, in thanking Rivlin for his friendship and his visit at such a spiritually uplifting moment, said: "We are happy and excited to re-open the museum after such a long time, and look forward to seeing the public while adhering to the rules for maintaining their health."