I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes

Following the display of the Isaiah Scroll in the focus exhibition Swords into Plowshares, and the Temple Scroll in Reflections of the Temple, the Israel Museum continued a program of installations in the Shrine of the Book, showcasing singular objects of archeological and historical importance using collection treasures and loans. The next in this series, "I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes: Prayer in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, was a display of artifacts relating to theme of prayer, including two silver plaques containing the Priestly Benediction from the late 7th – early 6th century BCE, the earliest known fragments of biblical text; a 15th century prayer book in the Rothschild Miscellany, a magnificent Hebrew illuminated manuscript; an exquisite 16th century French Book of Hours; and a 15th–16th century Iranian Quran decorated with elaborately illuminated geometric and floral patterns.