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April 20, 2015
By: Jennifer Frey

The Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum Celebrates 50 Years

Two special displays and a new exhibition space to showcase the Nano Bible were inaugurated on April 20, 2015 at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem to commemorate the 50^thAnniversary of the Shrine of the Book, home of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The exhibition, And Then There Was Nano: The Smallest Bible in the World, features the world’s tiniest version of the Hebrew Bible, created by researchers at the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI) at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. The Nano Bible serves as a contemporary complement to the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest Biblical manuscripts in the world, providing audiences with a unique opportunity to examine the technological evolution of the Old Testament from antiquity to the postmodern era. The exhibit was made possible through the generosity of American Technion Society supporters Joan and Arnold Seidel and family, the RBNI, and the Dorot Foundation.

And Then There Was Nano: The Smallest Bible in the World tells the incredible story of the tiny bible, etched onto a microchip no larger than a grain of sugar. The exhibition includes narrative presentations explaining the story behind the creation of the Nano Bible and details media through which the Hebrew Bible has been interpreted over time.

On view concurrently, The Architecture of the Shrine of the Book is devoted to the unique history and design the Shrine itself, an iconic work of modernist expressionist architecture designed by Frederic Kiesler and Armand Bartos. As part of the Israel Museum’s anniversary celebrations throughout 2015, these special installations pay tribute to the Shrine of the Book’s opening in April 1965 as a prelude to the inauguration of the Museum’s entire campus.

“This exhibition writes a new chapter in the journey of the Book of Books from antiquity to the present — from the 2,000-year-old Dead Sea Scrolls to the 21^st century Nano Bible,” said James S. Snyder, the Anne and Jerome Fisher Director of the Israel Museum. “This remarkable technological achievement will bring to a broad audience the context of the narrative of the Shrine of the Book and of the history of Biblical text from the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls to the most cutting-edge technology. It also marks a joint celebration with the Technion, whose Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute created the Nano Bible to mark the 50^th Anniversary of the Shrine and of the Museum.”

“The Technion is delighted to partner with the Israel Museum, and to take part in its 50^th anniversary celebrations,” added Technion President, Professor Peretz Lavie. “The Nano Bible exhibition is a fascinating confluence of history, culture and cutting-edge science — where the Land of the Bible meets the Start-Up Nation.”

What is the Nano Bible?

The Nano Bible is a gold-plated silicon chip the size of a pinhead on which the entire Hebrew Bible is engraved. The text, consisting of over 1.2 million letters, is carved on the 0.5mm² chip by means of a focused ion beam. The beam dislodges gold atoms from the plating and creates letters, similar to the way the earliest inscriptions were carved in stone. The writing process takes about an hour and a half. The letters belong to a font unique to this technology and appear darker against their gold background. In order to read the text, it is necessary to use a microscope capable of 10,000 times magnification or higher.

Employing a modern incarnation of an ancient writing technique, this technological marvel demonstrates the wonders of present day miniaturization and provides the spectator with a tangible measure of the achievable dimensions. Dense information storage is not unique to human culture: The blueprints of all organisms are stored by nature at even higher densities in long DNA molecules and transmitted in this form over generations.

The term “nano” derives from the Greek word nanos, meaning “dwarf.” The unit nanometer measures one billionth of a meter, a ratio similar to the size of an olive compared to the entire planet Earth. Nanotechnology makes it possible to construct new materials stronger and lighter than steel, to desalinate water more efficiently, to deliver medications to designated parts of the body without harming surrounding tissues, and to detect cancerous cells in early stages. At the dawn of the nano age, scientists and engineers are discovering ways to harness such exquisite control over the elementary building blocks of nature for the benefit of mankind and our planet.

The Nano Bible was conceived of and created by Prof. Uri Sivan and Dr. Ohad Zohar of the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. It was made by engineers in the Sara and Moshe Zisapel Nanoelectronics Center and the Wolfson Microelectronics Research and Teaching Center. The first of two copies was presented by the former President of the State of Israel, Shimon Peres, to Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to Israel in 2009. The chip on display in the Israel Museum was produced especially for the Information and Study Center of the Shrine of the Book.

And Then There Was Nano is curated by Dr. Adolfo Roitman, The Lizbeth and George Krupp Curator of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Head of the Shrine of the Book.

Click here to watch a video on the how the Nano Bible was created.

The Architecture of the Shrine of the Book

Marking the Shrine of the Book’s 50th anniversary, this exhibition is devoted to the design of the Shrine – an icon of modernist architecture – and to its architects, Frederick Kiesler and Armand Bartos. On display are preliminary sketches of the Shrine by Kiesler, shown to the public for the first time, as well as examples of his “correalistic” furniture that illustrate his distinctive approach to design and architecture.

The exhibition also features photographs documenting the Shrine’s building process and its early years, when it served as a site of pilgrimage to photographers and to the public at large.

The Architecture of the Shrine of the Book is curated by Osnat Sirkin, Associate Curator, Department of Design and Architecture, and is on display through April 26, 2016.

About the Technion-Israel Institute for Technology

Founded in 1912, the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology is the oldest university in Israel. The Technion offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in science and engineering, and related fields such as architecture, medicine, industrial management and education. It has 18 academic departments and over 50 research centers. Since its founding, it has awarded over 100,000 degrees. Among the Technion’s 600+ faculty members are three Nobel Laureates.

The Technion-Israel Institute of Technology is a major source of the innovation and brainpower that drives the Israeli economy, and a key to Israel’s renown as the world’s “Start-Up Nation.” Technion people, ideas and inventions make immeasurable contributions to the world, including life-saving medicine, sustainable energy, computer science, water conservation and nanotechnology.

In December 2011, a bid by the Technion and Cornell University won a competition to establish an applied science and engineering educational institution in New York City – named Cornell Tech, home of the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute. In 2013, the Technion signed with China’s Shantou University to establish the Guangdong Technion Israel Institute of Technology in China.

American Technion Society (ATS) donors provide critical support for the Technion – more than $2 billion since its inception in 1940. Based in New York City, the ATS and its network of chapters across the U.S. provide funds for scholarships, fellowships, faculty recruitment and chairs, research, buildings, laboratories, classrooms and dormitories, and more.

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 and includes the most extensive holdings of Biblical and Holy Land archaeology in the world, among them the Dead Sea Scrolls. Over its first 50 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.

The Museum’s 20-acre campus, which underwent comprehensive renewal in 2010 designed by James Carpenter Design Associates and Efrat-Kowalsky Architects, features the Billy Rose Art Garden, the Shrine of the Book, and more than 225,000 square feet of collection gallery and temporary exhibition space. The Museum also organizes programming at its off-site locations in Jerusalem at the Rockefeller Archaeological Museum, where it presents archaeological artifacts from the Land of Israel; and at its historic Ticho House, a venue for exhibitions of contemporary Israeli art.

The Shrine of the Book houses the Dead Sea Scrolls, among these the world’s oldest biblical manuscripts, as well as other rare biblical manuscripts. This monumental structure has become an icon in Israel and around the world, its shrine-like interior affording visitors a rich spiritual experience.

The Dorot Foundation Dead Sea Scrolls Information and Study Center in memory of Joy Gottesman Ungerleider was inaugurated in 2007 and reopened in April 2015 in honor of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Shrine of the Book. In establishing the Foundation, Gottesman Ungerleider followed in the footsteps of her father, philanthropist D. S. Gottesman, who helped support the construction of the Shrine in 1965 and contributed to the purchase of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The Museum is celebrating its 50^th anniversary throughout 2015, with a year-long program devoted to an exploration of Israel’s aesthetic culture in the 50 years before and after its founding.

For more information please contact:

Jennifer Frey, ATS Writer/Editor
Jennifer.frey@ats.org or 212.407.6363

Kevin Hattori, ATS Assoc. Dir. of Communications and P.R.
kevin@ats.org or 212.407.6319

Debbie Rapps
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
debbiera@imj.org.il   
972.2.670.8935

Gil Lainer
Technion Israel Institute of Technology
glainer@technion.ac.il
972.4.829.2374