Five of the Dead Sea Scrolls, stored for decades in a climate-controlled exhibit at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, are now available in digital form to anyone with an Internet connection, said a Religion News Service report on the Huffington Post.

A website (http://dss.collections.imj.org.il) developed by the Israel Museum and Google allows online visitors to examine the scrolls in minute detail with the help of a magnifying feature.

Pages for each of the five scrolls – the Great Isaiah Scroll, the Community Rule Scroll, the Commentary on the Habakkuk Scroll, the Temple Scroll, and the War Scroll – also contain brief videos and explanatory notes.

Dating from the third century B.C. to the first century A.D., the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered between 1947 and 1956 in 11 caves near the Dead Sea. The region’s arid environment helped ensure their survival.

“We have seen how people around the world can enhance their knowledge and understanding of key historical events by accessing documents and collections online,” said Yossi Matias, managing director of Google’s Israeli research and development center, in a statement.

“We hope to make all existing knowledge in historical archives and collections available to all, including helping to put additional Dead Sea Scroll documents online.”

According to a blog post on The Washington Post, all of the Dead Sea Scrolls are due to be available on the Internet by 2016.

The originals, however, will remain in a vault in a Jerusalem building that requires at least three different keys, a magnetic card and a secret code to get inside.

FULL STORY

Dead Sea Scrolls Now Online (Huffington Post/Religion News Service)

Dead Sea Scrolls go online (The Washington Post blog)

PHOTO CREDIT

Ken and Nyetta on Flickr

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