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Gulf Pine Catholic
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February 27, 2015
Work now underway on $400 million Museum of
the Bible in Washington
BY NATE MADDEN
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- On a gray
and overcast morning in Washington,
just a short walk from Capitol Hill, con-
struction work began on a museum
intended to promote engagement, educa-
tion and discussion of the Bible.
The 430,000-square-foot museum
will feature a 200-foot LED screen on
the lobby ceiling, displaying a set of
rotating images from Israel, Rome and
Spain.
It also will have a facade modeled
after various printed manuscripts of the
Bible, stained-glass windows from
Germany, and a top-floor, glass-enclosed
promenade that will offer “some amaz-
ing views” of the National Mall and the
Capitol, according to project director
Brian Flegel.
“D Street and the area around it are
going to be getting a bit of a ‘facelift’” as
a result of the construction, Flegel told
the media Feb. 12 at the groundbreaking
while showing proposed designs of the
eight-story, $400 million museum.
It also will have an environmentally
sustainable “green roof,” a “biblical garden” and a
“Foods of the Bible” restaurant, which will be “inspired
by the bazaars and markets of the Middle East.”
The site of the Museum of the Bible -- founded and
funded by the family that owns the Hobby Lobby chain
of craft stores -- is a historic warehouse near the
Federal Center and just two blocks south of the
National Mall. The building was purchased for $50 mil-
lion in July 2012 by the museum’s board.
Architectural plans call for restoring the exterior of
the building, originally built in the 1920s as a refrigera-
tion warehouse for the District of Columbia, and gut-
ting the interior to build the museum’s various features.
It is scheduled to open in November 2017.
During the news conference, workers demolished
an addition made to the building in the early 1980s.
“This is a museum dedicated to one book,” Cary
Summers, museum president, told reporters. “It’s the
most widely sold book in history, most debated book in
history and most banned book in history. It’s the one
that has the most controversy of any book in history
and it’s also the book that has impacted the world more
than any single piece of literature that’s ever been writ-
ten.
“People ask why we do this. We believe that it’s
such an important part of our daily life that we should
focus our time and efforts so that other people can be
engaged with the Bible, just as we are.”
Summers said the museum “will engage heavily
with the academic side of the study of the Bible, as well
as the scholarship side, which we will have a whole
wing devoted to” as well as whole floors dedicated to
“the impact of the Bible, the history of the Bible, and
the narrative or stories of the Bible.”
Most research and scholarship done at the museum
will be done by the Green Scholars Initiative, its
research arm, which currently has “a select group of
senior research scholars from academic institutions
around the world who are conducting primary research”
on ancient artifacts and manuscripts.
The exhibits will feature pieces from several differ-
ent libraries around the world, as well as the museum’s
own private collection. The Museum of the Bible cur-
rently boasts “the largest private collection of biblical
manuscripts and artifacts” on earth, according to
Summers.
“We have collected over 44,000 items over the past
several years” said the chairman of the board, Steve
Green, which includes “Dead Sea scrolls fragments,
Gutenberg portions, and papyrus fragments” among
others.
Currently, many of the artifacts in the collection are
undergoing study, and many more are on display in
various exhibits in cities around the world and at col-
leges and universities throughout the U.S.
Green, who also is the president of Hobby Lobby,
said that he hopes the museum will be a
way for all people to learn about and
engage with the Bible, regardless of faith
or theological expertise.
“We would like all people to come
and learn about a book that has impacted
our world,” he told reporters adding that
“it’s a book that’s had a huge impact. It’s
been loved, and it’s been hated. We just
want people to come and learn about it.”
When asked if the museum’s goal
was to bring people to Christianity, he
answered that “we would hope that peo-
ple would consider what the book has to
say ... if it’s compelling, then that’s a
decision they can make on their own.”
Green gained national prominence in
June when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled
his family-owned company does not
have to comply with the Affordable Care
Act’s contraceptive mandate; the family
legally challenged the mandate on the
grounds it violates their religious beliefs
as Christians. Green also has developed
a Bible education curriculum that is
being used in some public schools.
When asked about what the museum
means to him personally, Green respond-
ed, “Our family has had a love for the
Bible that’s been passed down through generations. We
desire to live our lives according to its principles and
operate our business according to its principles.”
According to a news release, the “Museum of the
Bible invites all people to engage with the Bible
through museum exhibits and scholarly pursuits.” The
website
encourages the
public to donate to the project, which is being paid for
solely by private funds.
When questioned about concerns that it would have
a specific religious or denominational agenda, Summers
assured the media that the museum is taking a “very
nonsectarian approach” to its development, which
includes “many different Jewish, Catholic and
Protestant groups.”
In addition to working with Catholic groups, the
museum also has a “very strong working relationship”
with the Vatican Museums and the Vatican Library,
according to Summers. “We’ve had two of our moving
exhibits on display there. They’ve loaned us items and
vice versa. We also have some of their people involved
with us as advisers to this museum.”
“It’s very exciting to see this project getting start-
ed,” Green said. “It’s something that we have been
working on and dreaming about for five years now. It’s
been a dream and it’s becoming a reality today.”
This architectural rendering shows how the Museum of the Bible planned
for Washington will look. Opening in 2017, the eight-story, 430,000-square-
foot museum is being designed by the lead architect group that created the
International Spy Museum, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American
Indian, and the soon-to-open National Museum of African American History and
Culture.
CNS photo/courtesy Smith Group JJR
