1962-1965

Shrine of the Book: Conceptual Drawing of Interior and Exterior of Dome

American (born Austria-Hungary), 1890 - 1965

The Shrine of the Book, a wing of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, houses the Dead Sea Scrolls; it is one of the few architectural projects Kiesler realized. Throughout the design process, which extended from 1956 until the building opened in 1965, the artist found it difficult to retain his notion of the “endless.” As he wrote, “The Dead Sea Scrolls unfold a new life for me, architecturally speaking—demanding a blunt reality, not a theory.” The white dome of the shrine, which rises slightly above an underground structure, is reflected in a surrounding pool. Some of Kiesler’s early drawings show that initially he intended to have one or more fountains of water springing from the dome.