Better Images of the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Vatican

I mentioned in a post in 2021 that the Vatican Museum had on display two small fragments of animal hide with Hebrew letters that are identified as “inscribed fragments of Qumran scrolls.” They were donated in 2001 from the personal collection of Salvatore Garofalo (1911-1998), a priest and theologian. At the time, I could not find any quality digital images of the pieces. I see from some browsing on the excellent online catalog of the Vatican Museum that much better images are indeed available (though, like the display in the Museum, the fragments are upside down):

Image source: Vatican Museums

I was unable to get the files to download, but there was a solid zooming feature available that provided good detail (the images of the fragments below have been flipped so that they are oriented properly).

Vatican Museum, inv. 57242; image source: Vatican Museums
Vatican Museum, inv. 57241; image source: Vatican Museums

I have not learned anything new about exactly when or how Garofalo acquired the fragments.

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1 Response to Better Images of the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Vatican

  1. On inv. 57242 the lines are far apart, unusually.

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