LOS ANGELES, March 18, 2013 – THE BIBLE Executive Producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey along with Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment announced today “The Bible Experience” – an exquisite gallery featuring rare biblical artifacts and an array of breathtaking photography from the series production in celebration of the epic miniseries. Previously at the Vatican, these one-of-a-kind rare artifacts will be on display exclusively for the first time ever in New York, March 20-27.
Featured in “The Bible Experience” exhibit are rarely seen and priceless Biblical artifacts on loan from the Green Collection. “As stewards of these awe-inspiring texts and artifacts, we are thrilled about the opportunity to share them with the creators of THE BIBLE TV series and to celebrate this timely and transformative contribution to our culture’s conversation on the book that has changed our world,” said Steve Green representing the family. “These items are of great historical and biblical significance and demonstrate the Bible’s impact on every facet of life throughout the ages. We hope the experience of standing mere inches from them will inspire viewers to find a new appreciation for this most-banned, most-debated, best-selling book of all time.” The Green Collection is a private collection with several traveling exhibitions, the largest of which is Passages. The collection has 40,000 biblical pieces that will be housed in its permanent location in Washington D.C. Due to open in 2017; the museum will cover an entire city block.

 

“Roma and I are thrilled to be working with the Green Family and their rare Bible collection artifacts and to give New Yorkers an opportunity to glimpse the foundation of Western Civilization” said Mark Burnett, “you have seen the TV series, now see the real thing”.

 

Guests will also take a unique and emotionally charged journey as they experience the imagery and striking beauty of photographs from the set of THE BIBLE and the greatest stories ever told. “The works of photographers Joe Albas and Casey Crafford are extraordinary,” said executive producer Roma Downey. “Their images are powerful and need no words to convey emotion. You can’t help but be touched by the poignant expressions of these iconic figures. Mark and I are honored to take you on this visual journey with us, so that you might experience the wonder we felt in Morocco as our dream of making The Bible series came to life.”

 

Making their New York debut, a few notable rare relics including:

 

● Dead Sea Scroll Fragments: Daniel 10:18-20, and Jeremiah 23:6-9: Three pieces will be on display in this exhibit, containing portions from the book of Daniel, Jonah, and Jeremiah
● Medieval Torah Scroll, 14th century: One of oldest surviving Torah Scrolls in the world
● Codex Climaci Rescriptus: Between the late 4th and early 9th centuries AD, it represents one of the earliest near complete Bibles in the world. With two layers of text some of which are written in Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ
● Bodmer Papyrus: From the 3rd century AD, these leaves are from one of the oldest near-complete books of Psalms in Greek
● Gutenberg Leaf: Isaiah 44-5, Mainz, Germany, 1454: The first book printed in moveable typeset in the Western world
● Aitken Bible: First English language Bible printed in the United States and the ONLY Bible ever officially authorized by the Congress
● Eliot Indian Bible:  First Bible Printed in America. It was translated into Algonquin to help convert the Native Americans
● King James “She” Bible, London, England, 1613:  Commissioned by King James the 1st of England and the 6th of Scotland.  It took a committee of 47 scholars seven years to finish the project. It is significant in that it contained a printing error in the Book of Ruth
● Pocket Bible, Italy, c. 1240-1250: Produced in Italy between 1240 and 1250, it contains all of the books of the Bible in a single volume
● Rice Psalter, London, England, c. 1450: This book of Psalms, is an exquisite example of English Gothic manuscript illumination
● Complutensian Polyglot, Vol. 1, Alcalá de Henares, Spain, 1514-1517: The first printed polyglot of the entire Bible; it simultaneously displays the text of the Bible in as many as four different languages: Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, and Latin
● Cairo Geniza Manuscript Fragments, Cairo, Egypt, c. 1150 – c. 1250: Dating from the twelfth to the thirteenth centuries, contains portions of prayer books from the Karaite Jewish tradition, including morning prayers, prayers for the Holiday of Booths, and prayers of the New Moon

The Bible Experience is located at 450 West 14th Street between Washington and 10th Avenue and will run 10:00AM to 6:00PM daily from March 20, 2013 to March 27, 2013.  Admission is free.

Epic mini-series, THE BIBLE, premieres every Sunday on HISTORY® over the next three Sundays (3/17, 3/24, 3/31) culminating on Easter. From Genesis to Revelation, the series illuminates the Bible, re-telling the stories as they unfold and revealing new insights into these iconic characters in context of the Bible. The series will feature some of the most famous stories ever written from Noah’s Ark and the Exodus to Daniel in the Lion’s Den to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. To date, over 50 million cumulative viewers have seen at least a portion of the series since it began on March 3* (includes 9 telecasts across History and Lifetime). This Sunday will see the episodes covering the New Testament and the arrival of Jesus.
THE BIBLE series is produced for HISTORY by LightWorkers Media and Hearst Entertainment & Syndication. Executive Producers are Roma Downey, Mark Burnett and Richard Bedser. Executive Producers for HISTORY are Dirk Hoogstra and Julian P. Hobbs.