Adventure 111: The Leonardo feat. The Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dead Sea Scrolls made their stop in Salt Lake City back in 2014. I felt like I missed my window to post about it since I saw it in the last two weeks of the exhibit. However, the scrolls came up in conversation recently, and it reminded me how incredible it was that these ancient pieces of animal hide traveled the globe and spent a short stint here in SLC. 

Before reaching the installment, there is quite the visual feast in the opening areas of the Leonardo. This art and science museum located next to the Salt Lake City library has only been around as we know it today since 2011, attracting huge crowds from traveling exhibits. The Body Worlds 3 exhibit in 2008 put the not-yet-finished venue on many Utahns' radar, including mine.

This very ethereal looking ceiling installment is supposed to be a scientific piece of art that responds to you as you get close. I never got close, so I didn't test it out.

Proof of my visit that gave me bragging rights for at least 24 hours.

Almost there...I can see it in the background.

It all started by being filed into a rather dark room with an introduction from a historian followed by a recorded voice and sounds of the sea and large video images intended to give a sense of the place the scrolls were discovered.

Then a really long hallway with related artifacts. Sort of the foreplay to the real thing yet to come.

More artifacts. So many artifacts.

I wasn't actually allowed to take photos of the room with the scrolls in it, so sorry if that makes it anti-climactic. But I can say that clearly a lot of thought went into the design of the layout of the display.

This is what I will say about the scrolls, the handwriting was really hard to decipher in parts and surprisingly clear in others for how old the hides were. Also, the small bits were behind incredibly thick glass and even getting my face as close to the glass as I could, I still felt like the scrolls were really far away. It didn't give me the reverence and awe I expected from being in their presence.

Oh, and there was a video of really excited historians and architects talking about the discovery.

Time spent on adventure: 4 hours

Money spent: ≈ $20
Recommendation: 7 out of 10 adventure points! A once in a lifetime opportunity, though it wasn't as exciting as I'd hoped.