Religion, science and culture come together in the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit that opens today at the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul.

It's a significant display focusing on 2,000-year-old fragments of handwritten copies of the Hebrew Bible — the Christian Old Testament — that were found in caves near the Dead Sea, starting in 1947.

This major archaeological find has kept scientists and scholars busy for decades, as they authenticate and date the fragments, then put the pieces together, decipher them and compare them to the modern versions of the holy books.

Five actual fragments of the scrolls are the highlight, near the end of the exhibit, carefully locked in lit cabinets inside a darkened room watched over by an armed St. Paul police officer. The Hebrew characters will be unreadable by most, but there are translations — subtitles — on the wall.

Many people looking at the fragments will be transported back in time, feeling a connection with those who wrote them and read them 2,000 years ago, said Micheal Wise, a professor at Northwestern College in Arden Hills who was an adviser for the exhibit.

“Looking at the fragments, we have an unmediated experience with the past,” he said. “We  traverse the distance and share an experience with those who went before us.”

The exhibit tries to put the scrolls in context — historically, religiously and archaeologically — with several galleries leading up to the scroll room.

A section on life in those days, including pottery, coins and ossuaries (stone boxes holding the bones of the dead), helps acclimate us to the era of the scrolls, the centuries between 250 BCE and 68 CE. (That's Before the Common Era and Common Era, or, for most of us who've been out of school for a while, B.C. and A.D.)

There are explanations of the geography of the Dead Sea Valley, where the desert conditions helped preserve the parchment and papyrus scrolls. “Preserve” is a relative term here; there are actually 15,000 fragments of scrolls that have been found in caves over the years. The art of connecting the pieces and interpreting them is likened to a giant puzzle with many pieces missing, and a section of the exhibit is devoted to that.

There's a mystery/thriller element to the exhibit, too, as a timeline traces the finding of the scrolls by Bedouins and attempts to sell them. Duke University had a shot at them but declined. Most of the fragments are now controlled by the Israeli Antiquities Authority, and small parts of the collection are regularly lent to institutions around the world; some were in Kansas City in 2007 and Chicago in 2000.

Budding Indiana Jones types will like the section on the archaeological investigation of Qumran, a village near the caves. The tools and methods of the scientists are examined, and there's not a pistol or whip among them. There are lots of questions, though, about Qumran; was it the source of the scrolls, or an unrelated settlement of religious zealots or even a food production site.

Scholars estimate that 800 scribes worked on the scrolls over an extended period, while scientists suspect only 20 to 30 people lived in the settlement at any one time.

After viewing the scrolls, visitors get a good look at the making of the St. John's Illuminated Bible, a hand-made epic effort commissioned by St. John's Abbey and University and scheduled to be finished this year.

A gift shop at the end offers books and T-shirts, along with Dead Sea Mineral Mud and Dead Sea Mineral Salt for sale.

The exhibit runs through Oct. 24; tickets are available online or phone — (651) 221-9444 or (800) 221-9444.

Admission for non-Science Museum members is $28 for adults and $22 for children and seniors. Members are $12 and $10, with a $2 price break in June.