Monday, March 02, 2026

Israel's museums are back in safeguard mode

BACK TO THE BUNKERS: Moving Isaiah: For fourth time since October 7, museums pack up artworks for safekeeping. As sirens sound throughout Israel and Iranian missiles rain down, curators and staff get to work, putting away valuable artifacts and art (Jessica Steinberg and Rossella Tercatin, Times of Israel).
Thursday morning, Israel Museum guards carefully counted off 25 visitors to enter the climate-controlled gallery holding the seven-meter-long Great Isaiah Scroll, the oldest near-complete biblical book ever found, near the beginning of several-month exhibit.

Two days later, the entire scroll and other pieces of ancient parchment and books were relocated to a secure location as sirens sounded, warning of incoming missile attacks from Iran, a spokesperson for the Israel Museum told The Times of Israel on Sunday.

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More on the Israel Museum's display of the Great Isaiah Scroll, now on indefinite hiatus, is here and links.

Earlier safeguarding closures of Israels museums were noted here and here.

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