An iconic religious and historical artifact is now on display at a Ventura County museum.
The oldest known copy of the Ten Commandments has been added to an exhibition at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.
"To date, they have found 30 copies of the Ten Commandments," said Melissa Giller, Chief Marketing Officer with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.
"Of the 30 copies they have found, this is the oldest, and it is completely intact. It's never been in California before, so we are honored they would allow us to house this here, especially during Easter and Passover."
The Ten Commandments scroll will be on display at the library through April 24. It's in a special climate and light-controlled display case.
"This is a very well-protected scroll," said Giller. "When it arrived here. it took them about 45 minutes to install it within this case. This case has a microclimate, so the humidity is monitored, the air is monitored, and the light levels are monitored. For this exhibition, because these objects are 2,000 years old, the light levels are extremely low in these galleries."
"It's just kind of unbelievable, to think how old it is. Somebody wrote this down so long ago," said museum visitor Peter Mueller.
The Ten Commandments scroll is a new addition to a bigger exhibition currently running at the Reagan Library, Dead Sea Scrolls: The Exhibition.
"We have this exhibition through September 2 of 2025," said Giller. "It has over 200 objects, many of which have never left Israel before, including eight scrolls from the Dead Sea Scrolls collection...objects like the Sea of Galilee Boat. They've been able to prove through carbon dating that the boat was used on the Sea of Galilee at the exact same time Jesus was a fisherman there. We have a two-ton piece of the Western Wall, and people leave messages every day...as if they were in Jerusalem."
The scrolls are on loan from the Israeli Antiquities Authority. Giller talked about how the forgotten treasures were rediscovered more than three-quarters of a century ago.
"A goat herder, a sheep herder, was out in the desert tending to his sheep and his goats, and one got astray, and got into a cave. The shepherd picked up some rocks and started throwing them into the cave, hoping it would scare the goat out. When he threw the rocks in the cave, he heard something shatter, like a piece of pottery. He followed the noise and found he had shattered a pot, and inside the pot was this ancient Dead Sea Scroll. The Ten Commandments scroll was found in the fourth cave they found, in 1952, about five years after the rest of the scrolls were found."
The exhibition has been a huge hit since it opened last November, selling out most Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. To enhance the viewing experience, exhibit officials limit the number of tickets sold daily and extend the hours to accommodate the crowds. They recommend getting tickets in advance.
"To think that it is so old, and it's kind of reaching out from God in a way. It kind of touches your soul," said museum visitor Edward Yost.
The two-week stop for the Ten Commandments scroll is a rarity in itself, because it's so light sensitive. After it's removed from display on April 24, it will be stored in a completely dark facility for two years before it can be displayed again.
