One of World’s Largest Private Collections of Biblical Artifacts Comes to Santa Clarita—March 19, 2015

“These rare biblical texts and artifacts would make Indiana Jones salivate.”  —CNN

Media Preview Day: April 2, 9 a.m.– 3 p.m.

SANTA CLARITA, Calif., March 19, 2015—

Passages, a 30,000-square-foot, interactive, traveling exhibit on the history of the Bible, launches in Santa Clarita on April 3, Easter weekend and the first day of Passover. Called “a sampler of Jewish, Roman Catholic and Protestant treasures” by USA Today, Passages features some 400 artifacts from one of the world’s largest private collections of rare biblical texts and artifacts.

MEDIA PREVIEW DAY: April 2, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Media are invited to a tour Passages the day before it opens to the public. A ribbon-cutting ceremony with the president of the Santa Clarita Chamber of Commerce will take place from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Interviews can be scheduled in advance with David Trobisch, Th.D., collection director for Museum of the Bible and biblical manuscript scholar. To RSVP to the media preview or schedule an interview, contact Michelle Farmer at 770.757.4900 mobile.

Guests at Passages Santa Clarita will experience an all-new exhibit layout chronicling the Bible’s transmission, translation, impact and controversy through immersive environments such as:

  • Israel’s Qumran Caves, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered
  • The Jerusalem Chamber at Westminster Abbey, where scholars finalized the King James Bible
  • Gutenberg’s print shop, where the invention of the printing press revolutionized the written word
  • A multimedia adventure area, designed by VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer, where kids explore the stories of the Bible
  • The surface of the moon, where U.S. astronauts carried a microfiche Bible on Apollo 14

The exhibit also features digital technologies and hands-on activities for guests of all ages and backgrounds.

Artifacts and texts documenting the Bible’s history from early cuneiform tablets to today’s digital Bibles will be on display. Highlights from the exhibit’s 400 rare biblical items include:

  • Dead Sea Scroll fragments from the first century B.C.
  • First editions of the King James Bible
  • Codex Climaci Rescriptus, containing the most extensive early biblical texts close to Jesus’ household language
  • Torah scrolls that survived the Nazi Holocaust
  • Stained glass windows from Tiffany Studios memorializing the Gospel writers
  • Cuneiform tablets dating to the time traditionally associated with Abraham
  • First editions of the Douay-Rheims Catholic Old and New Testaments
  • A rare letter from Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant Reformation, written just before he was charged with heresy
  • The original, handwritten manuscript of the biblically inspired Battle Hymn of the Republic

 

​Passages will also host a monthly, free-to-the-public speakers series showcasing lectures from top biblical manuscript scholars and academics on topics related to archaeology, biblical history, cultural impact and more.

“Passages provides everyone—from the casual visitor to the intellectually curious, from scholars to schoolchildren—with a one-of-a-kind opportunity to go behind the scenes of one of the most influential, best-selling books of all time,” said Trobisch. “You would have to travel the world to catch just a glimpse of what you can experience at Passages in Santa Clarita beginning April 3.”

Passages—Santa Clarita, California

Dates: 
April 3, 2015 – Feb. 27, 2016

Location: 
26565 Bouquet Canyon Rd.
Santa Clarita, CA 91350

Regular Ticket Pricing:
Adult: $12
Senior, Military, College Students, Youth (ages 6 – 17): $10
Children (ages five and under): FREE
Senior group tours, student field trips, homeschool days and church small-group excursions are encouraged.
Season passes and group pricing are available.

Hours of Operation:
Tues., Thurs. – Sat., 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Wed., 10 a.m. – 9 p.m.
Sun., 1 – 6 p.m.
Closed Monday

Contact: 
888.297.8011
More info at ExplorePassages.com

About Passages:

Passages (ExplorePassages.com) is a 30,000-square-foot, interactive, traveling exhibit chronicling the history of the Bible, from its transmission and translation to its impact and controversies. In Santa Clarita, from April 3, 2015 to Feb. 27, 2016, the family-friendly exhibit features some 400 items from one of the world’s largest private collections of rare biblical texts and artifacts. Since its debut in 2011, several hundred thousand people have experienced Passages in five other U.S. cities, where 90 percent of surveyed visitors have rated the exhibit five out of five stars. Many artifacts traveling with Passages will be featured in Museum of the Bible; a select few will also travel to Philadelphia in September for a special exhibit marking Pope Francis’ first visit to the U.S.

About Museum of the Bible:

Museum of the Bible (museumoftheBible.org) invites all people to engage with the Bible through museum exhibits and scholarly pursuits, including artifact research, education initiatives and an international museum opening late 2017 in Washington. The 430,000-square-foot, $400 million Museum of the Bible, dedicated to the impact, history and narrative of the Bible, will be located three blocks from the U.S. Capitol. As of 2015, it has sponsored traveling exhibits in six U.S. cities and four other countries.