Dead Sea Scroll Exhibit
Our friend Andrea flew down to LA to visit for the weekend. Our first activity was to see the Dead Sea Scroll exhibit at the California Science Center. The exhibit is a seperate admission and one has to get tickets for a particular time. We opted for tickets for 11:15 today. Three senior tickets at about $16 a pop. Oh and don’t forget the $6 convenience fee. What a crock. We printed out the tickets and off we went. Parking was $10. No HP parking available so we had to hike from the back 40.
I feel that we were ripped off. We arrive in line at the appointed time and get in line. 11:15 isn’t the time you get into the exhibit. It’s the time you get to start waiting in line. We waited for about a 1/2 hour before we finally gained admission together with the horde of archeology fans. Paula and Andrea got the audio device for $5 each. I listened to Mozart Piano Concerti on my iPhone.
The exhibit was way over booked. The exhibit will be at the California Science Center until Sept. 7. Once you got inside the exhibit you have to wait in line to view the artifacts. By the way, photography of all kinds was forbidden. I can understand banning flash photography, but no photography is just a brazen attempt to boost gift shop sales. But, I took some pictures anyway. First, I had to look around to see if any museum staffers were in the area. Then sneak a picture on my iPhone.
To be clear, the exhibit is not just the Dead Sea Scrolls. There is many more artifacts recovered from the Qumran region in the Judeaen desert of the West Bank. It probably adds to fullness of the exhibit, especially since I can’t read Hebrew. The actual scrolls were under glass and dimly lit. Very difficult to see.
The artifacts are an interesting view of what life might have been like 3000 years ago. I wondered who had the patience to put the pottery jars back together after being destroyed sometime in the long distant past.
It was an interesting exhibit but our enjoyment was lessened by excessive crowds.
Explore posts in the same categories: Museums, ReviewsTags: Archeology, Dead Sea Scrolls, Musuems, Science
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calherewecome 
September 25, 2015 at 3:28 pm
I attended this same exhibit in August. I found it to be quite remarkable and fascinating…and had no problem respecting the rules. I did not take any photos, as per requested. There are usually big line-ups, and “hordes” of people at high interest attractions. I found Disneyland to be full of people in line-ups as well. I’m sorry you felt ripped off. I absolutely loved it and felt honoured to have been able to see such exquisite historical artifacts. Anyone who truly understands how impactful these artifacts are should definitely go. It’s worth the cost of tickets and parking, and is absolutely worth the effort required to wait in line, walk to the entrance from the parking lot and respect the rules that are in place. You will walk away with a much clearer understanding of what is happening in the middle east, why it is happening and the history thereof. I loved it!