Royal Ontario Museum StatementRegarding the Dead Sea Scrolls:Words That Changed The World Exhibition

The Royal Ontario Museum is honoured to host a profound and special exhibition on the Dead Sea Scrolls, in collaboration with the Israel Antiquities Authority.

In fulfillment of its mission to disseminate knowledge about the Dead Sea Scrolls to a global audience, the Israel Antiquities Authority has made loans of the Dead Sea Scrolls for the past 15 years to more than 20 major cultural institutions in Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia. Under this practice, exhibitions have been mounted at the Vatican Apostolic Library, the Library of Congress in Washington, the New York Public Library, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the Field Museum Chicago, the San Francisco Museum of Fine Arts, the New South Wales Gallery in Sydney, Australia, the Roman German Museum in Cologne and the San Diego Natural History Museum (2007), among others.

The ROM has reviewed the recent objection that was raised by the Palestinian National Authority for the first time since such exhibitions have begun and remains satisfied that the exhibition is lawful.

The exhibition focuses on ancient archaeology and the content of the scrolls as foundation documents for the religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

The exhibition and programming place great emphasis on the shared importance of these ancient texts to the Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions. To this end the ROM is proud to present a series of lectures and events designed to provide a public forum for exploring the universal significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls.