HISTORY OF EARLY JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY AT MUSEUM OF ART - FORT LAUDERDALE

Monday, 13 November 2006 11:32

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – The Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale has announced that it will mount a major exhibition tracing the shared roots of Judaism and Christianity by bringing some of the most significant artifacts ever found in Israel, including the Temple Scroll, one of the most important of the Dead Sea Scrolls, to the Museum from December 7, 2006, through April 15, 2007.

Cradle of Christianity: Jewish and Christian Treasures from the Holy Land, Presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, in association with Wachovia, provides South Florida residents and visitors an unprecedented opportunity to learn about aspects of early Jewish life, the concurrent birth of Christianity, and how the two faiths influenced each other by presenting archaeological treasures excavated in Israel during the last century.  The exhibition, which was curated and organized by the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, explores two periods of major consequence for religious history.  The first era focuses on the final days of the Second Temple, the Herodian Period and the first century CE, which is the time when Jesus of Nazareth lived.  The second period examines the concurrent development of formative Judaism and Christianity in the Holy Land between the fourth and seventh centuries CE.

The Holy Land in the Time of Jesus – The Late Second Temple Period
The first section of Cradle of Christianity focuses on important events in Jesus’ life in the context of first – century Jewish culture.  Extraordinary finds from the Temple in Jerusalem, as well as stone ossuaries bearing the Hebrew names of Jesus and members of his family and circle, will be features in the exhibition.  It will also include artifacts characteristic of the period in which the Last Supper, trial, and crucifixion are believed to have taken place, which will provide a new perspective on these New Testament events.

Artifacts will include:
The Temple Scroll (Dead Sea Scroll) - Its scale and subject, which calls for a new interpretation of the Torah, make the Temple Scroll one of the most significant of the Dead Sea Scrolls.  This section of the Temple Scroll has recently been restored, and will be on display for the first time anywhere at the Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale during the Cradle of Christianity exhibition.

Burial ossuary of Caiaphas the High Priest - According to the New Testament, it was Caiaphas who delivered Jesus to the Romans for trial and eventual crucifixion.

A commemorative inscription bearing the name of Pontius Pilate - This inscription and the ossuary of Caiaphas represent the only known surviving physical testimonies of these two important figures from the story of the trial of Jesus.

Heel bone of Yehohanan, son of Hagkol - punctured by an iron nail (replication), is the only tangible evidence of the practice of crucifixion to have been discovered in archaeological excavations.

A graffito of the menorah - found in excavations of the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem and dating to the first century BCE (the Second Temple Period), is the oldest representation of the menorah that stood in the Temple of Jerusalem.

A stone inscription from the Temple Mount - reading “To the place of trumpeting . . .”

The Rise of Christianity
The rise to power of the emperor Constantine marks a turning point for early Christians, and the Christian movement flourished.  While there is a scarcity of artifacts that can be firmly connected to Jesus and early Christianity in the first centuries (knowledge of the first chapter in the history of Christianity being based primarily on sacred writings), there is a wealth of objects dating from the period in which Christianity developed in the fourth through the seventh centuries CE.  In telling the story of early Christianity and its emergence as a religion, the artifacts included in this section illustrate the religious activities of the Byzantine period: the intensive building of churches, the sanctification of holy shrines associated with Old and New Testament stories, and mass pilgrimages.  These objects, together with contemporary literary sources, present a rich picture of Christian life in the Holy Land during the Byzantine period.

Artifacts will include:

The remains of excavated churches, monasteries, and other religious sites - including furnishings, dedicatory inscriptions, reliquaries, and liturgical objects.  Souvenirs and mementos from early Christian pilgrimages to the Holy Land - including vessels for oil and water from holy sites and tokens bearing religious motifs.  A full-scale reconstruction of the chancel of a Byzantine-era church - comprising an original altar, chancel screens, baptisterium, reliquary, and pulpit, and adorned by mosaics.

Early Synagogues and Jewish Symbols

With the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, the Jews lost their central place of worship and were forced to find alternatives.  It took more than two centuries for synagogues to evolve into the typical architectural form that people are familiar with today.  These houses of prayer, where people gathered to study and analyze the scriptures, would become the center of the community’s spiritual life.  Dozens of synagogues, most of them dating from the fourth to the seventh centuries CE, have been excavated in Galilee, in the Golan, and in Judea.

Artifacts will include:

The remains of excavated synagogues, including capitals, mosaics, and marble furnishings, all adorned with Jewish symbols. Daily objects decorated with Jewish symbols.  The two largest three-dimensional menorahs ever found in excavation (116 cm x 87 cm x 10 cm and 44 cm x 61 cm x 14 cm.

Cradle of Christianity: Jewish and Christian Treasures from the Holy Land is organized by the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.  The exhibition is curated by David Mevorah, curator of Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Archaeology, and Yael Israeli, senior curator (emeritus) for archaeology and ancient glass, with a contribution by Dr. Adolfo Roitman, head of the Shrine of the Book and curator of the Dead Sea Scrolls.  All artifacts are on loan from the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, and the Israel Antiquities Authority.  “The archaeological holdings of the Israel Museum represent the world’s most significant treasures from the formative period of Judaism and Christianity in the Holy Land.

“The Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale is committed to providing numerous options for many rich and rewarding visits by mounting exhibitions that explore the vast diversity of cultures and civilizations through their art and artifacts, presented at the highest levels of scholarship and creativity,” says Irvin M. Lippman, the Museum’s president and executive director.  “Cradle of Christianity is an extension of that commitment, as it gives our community an opportunity to come face to face with the roots of Christianity and Judaism, which are, arguably, two of the most dominant forces that have shaped Western civilization as we understand it today.”

About the Israel Museum, Jerusalem
The Israel Museum is the largest cultural institution in the State of Israel and is ranked among the leading art and archaeology museums in the world.  Founded in 1965, the Museum houses encyclopedic collections ranging from prehistory through contemporary art.  They include the most extensive holdings of Biblical and Holy Land archaeology in the world, among them the Dead Sea Scrolls.  In just forty years, the Museum has built a far-ranging collection of nearly 500,000 objects through an unparalleled legacy of gifts and support from its circle of patrons worldwide.  It has established itself as an internationally valued institution and a singularly rich cultural resource for Israel, the Middle East, and the world.

About the Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale
The Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale has become one of South Florida’s leading cultural institutions.  Along with a dynamic exhibition schedule and an ambitious educational program, the Museum features one of the largest permanent collections of works by the American Impressionist William Glackens, as well as an extensive CoBrA collection focusing on the movement based in the northern European cities of Copenhagen, Brussels, and Amsterdam.  In recent years the Museum has begun to collect the work of contemporary artists from Cuba and other Latin American countries.  Visit : online at www.moafl.org