The highly decorated ceilings of the Galleria Sistine, painted in the 15th century, provided a highly challenging backdrop in which to display the 2,000 year old biblical texts and over a hundred related objects from the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Vatican's Judaica collections. Over 18,000 visitors a day saw this extraordinary collection during the exhibition at the Vatican in the summer of 1994. The exhibition was also shown at the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, the San Francisco Fine Arts Museum, and closed at the Israel Museum.
Photo by Mark E. Talisman
Mark Talisman, President of Project Judaica, presenting the Washington Haggadah to the Secretary of State of the Vatican at the opening of the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit.