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First Biblical Art Museum in America Connects Art to Faith

Unlike secular museums, which display religious artifacts for aesthetic purposes, the nation’s only Bible art museum opened in New York City to help people understand art in the context of faith in order to help people understand religion.

Unlike secular museums, which display religious artifacts for aesthetic purposes, the nation’s only Bible art museum opened in New York City to help people understand art in the context of faith in order to help people understand religion.

“There is a lot of Biblical art in major museums nationwide, but we are trying to connect it with the religious rituals and traditions that it came from and the religious functions the artwork once had,” said the museum’s curator, Ena Hellar.

“We are not commodifying [the Bible]. What we are doing is making it accessible,” she told The Christian Post. “We are explaining it in a way that does it justice. It shows the full significance of the art.”

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Hellar believes that by displaying Biblical artifacts in the right context, the museum can help people realize how relevant the Bible is to life today. For example, candle lighting at the start of the Sabbath begins the weekly ceremony.

“A lot of our exhibitions include 20th and 21st century artwork,” she said. “It does not belong only in the past. It continues to be relevant to our life.

“In general religious art, one cannot fully comprehend it unless they really know the original function and symbolisms,” she added.

The new $1.8 million installation is situated near the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. It grew out of a gallery that was a part of the nation’s largest Christian nonprofit, the American Bible Society.

The new Biblical art museum pays homage to both Christian and Jewish traditions.

“This could have been a museum of Christian art,” said Hellar. But “if it is a museum of Biblical art, then it needs to be true to the mission. That would include Judeo and Christian.”

The museum includes a number of exhibits that draw from the Renaissance Period, the contemporary period, along with a number of other representations of different eras.

From Dec. 2 to Dec. 6, the museum will host a light exhibit, “Let There Be Light: Oil-Lamps from the Holy Land.”

The museum had been in the making since 1998 as a gallery of the American Bible Society. It eventually grew into an independent space. It opened in May 2005. It is believed to be the world’s only museum of Biblical art. The few other Biblical museums are more comprehensive and may include archeological finds.

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