Year in Review: 2025 at Museum of the Bible

Looking back at this year for the museum, it’s amazing all the things that happened—new exhibits featuring significant and rarely seen artifacts, new live shows at the World Stage Theater, and new opportunities for guests. Let’s take you through the highlights.  

EXHIBITS AND EDUCATION

Descent from the Cross | March 5–May 5, 2025

Image © Museum of the Bible, 2025. All rights reserved. 

Our Easter exhibit this year featured the work of 21 different artists—including Dürer, Rembrandt, and Watanabe—and their interpretation of the moment Jesus is taken down from the cross. The exhibit space was filled with depictions of the same scene, yet each was unique in style and expression. One was a life-size sculpture. Others were full of color, while still others were dark and downcast, but all conveyed the power and emotions of that moment. Seeing the diverse interpretations together allowed guests to view the scene from different perspectives and angles, transforming our understanding of that moment. 

The artwork in the exhibition was on loan from Jerry and Kristen Stockton, artist Theodore Prescott, and Bowden Collections. 

Image © Museum of the Bible, 2025. All rights reserved.

Just a couple days later, the museum opened what would be one of the most popular exhibits this year.

C. S. Lewis and the Myth That Became Fact | March 7, 2025 – February 14, 2026 

The exhibit entrance, resembling the wardrobe depicted in Lewis’s novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Image © Museum of the Bible, 2025. All rights reserved. 

In this year’s “Personal Stories” exhibit, the museum featured author and apologist C. S. Lewis, exploring his journey from atheism to faith. On display are works from before his conversion, such as Spirits in Bondage, and after his conversion to Christianity, including The Chronicles of Narnia and Mere Christianity. Through these, guests could see Lewis wrestle with, and eventually abandon, his disbelief—the transformative power of the Bible in action. 

Image © Museum of the Bible, 2025. All rights reserved.

This exhibit is open until February 14, 2026, so don’t miss this opportunity to learn more about this amazing author and man. Learn more here.  

You can also read about some of the objects in this exhibit in our magazine.

The Crosby-Schøyen Codex | Opened June 2025 

Folio on left: 2 Maccabees 5:27–6:2; folio on right: 1 Peter 2:5–8 in the Crosby-Schøyen Codex. 

In conjunction with the 1700th anniversary of the traditional date of the start of the Council of Nicaea—an assembly convened to debate two opposing beliefs about Jesus that led to the creation of the Nicene Creed—the museum opened an exhibit featuring the Crosby-Schøyen Codex, an ancient papyrus book written in Coptic. Dating between AD 250 and 350, this beautiful new acquisition contains what is known to be the earliest copy of the books of Jonah and 1 Peter. This object is now displayed on the History of the Bible Floor, where it helps guests learn about the Council of Nicaea and its role in biblical history. Learn more about this object here.  

The Megiddo Mosaic: Foundations of Faith | July 25, 2025 – December 31, 2026  

The table, the base of which you see here, was donated by a believer named Akeptous. Image © Museum of the Bible, 2025. All rights reserved. 

Last year, we introduced DC to the Megiddo Mosaic, a large mosaic floor featuring inscriptions from early believers from the oldest-known place dedicated to Christian worship. This summer, we moved the Megiddo Mosaic to the first floor—a rare opportunity for guests to see and learn about this groundbreaking artifact—and made it free to see. One guest said, “I just never imagined I would get to see the Megiddo Mosaic with my own eyes.” The mosaic will remain on Floor 1 until the end of 2026, so don’t miss this opportunity to see early church history! Learn more about the story and inscriptions this mosaic contains here.  

Floor 1 also hosted another extraordinary artifact this year.  

The House of David: A Dynasty Carved in Stone | August 30–November 3, 2025 

The Tel Dan Stele.

The focal point of this exhibit is one of the most significant biblical archaeological discoveries of the last century. The Tel Dan Stele contains a memorial inscription mentioning the king of the “House of David” (bytdwd), a phrase used several times in the Hebrew Bible, offering the first historical evidence outside the Bible that King David was a real ruler. This limited-time exhibit offered guests a unique chance to see this historic inscription.   

 You can learn more about this stele and the rest of the inscription here.  

Continuing the pattern of exhibiting the oldest- or earliest-known artifacts, the museum prepared to open perhaps the most awaited exhibition of 2025: the Dead Sea Scrolls.  

Dead Sea Scrolls: The Exhibition | November 22, 2025 – September 7, 2026

Dead Sea Scrolls: The Exhibition, created by the Israel Antiquities Authority from the collections of the National Treasures, in partnership with Running Subway, was curated by Navit Popovich-Geller, Risa Levitt, and Joe Uziel.

Our latest exhibition features some of the greatest biblical archaeological finds, making this a very exciting and monumental time for the museum! This exhibition was created by the Israel Antiquities Authority from the collections of the National Treasures, in partnership with Running Subway. These fragments—some up to 2,200 years old—offer an unparalleled glimpse into the Second Temple period, the time when the Hebrew Bible (the Christian Old Testament) was being finalized and Christianity was emerging. In addition to the scroll fragments, the exhibition also highlights other artifacts such as the Magdala Stone and the Ginosar Boat, otherwise known as the “Jesus Boat.” 

This exhibition will have two additional rotations of different scroll fragments and is open until Fall 2026, so make plans to visit before the scrolls return to Israel for preservation. Since opening last month, nearly 7,000 guests have been able to witness the scrolls for themselves, and hundreds more are planning their visit to see them in the coming year! Find out more about the exhibition here, and you can learn more the scrolls and information about their discovery here.  

In addition to exhibitions, the museum hosted a number of educational programs and conferences, from hands-on archaeology workshops for kids to educator conferences. One program was a special convention to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the hymn “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”  

Lift Every Voice and Sing Symposium | June 12 

Image © Museum of the Bible, 2025. All rights reserved. 

“Lift Every Voice and Sing” is a hymn full of biblical and theological themes that has touched generations and is deeply rooted in African American culture. To celebrate the legacy of this hymn, the museum hosted a symposium, bringing together renowned scholars, musicians, and artists to explore its origins and lasting cultural impact. Participants engaged with meaningful lectures and panel discussions and experienced the enduring impact of this hymn through art sessions, art displays, and musical performances.  

Image © Museum of the Bible, 2025. All rights reserved. 

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THE WORLD STAGE THEATER 

Our World Stage Theater also kept busy with concerts and screenings, plays, and live shows. We had the privilege of having artists such as Chris Tomlin and Ben Fielding, Andrew Peterson, and Evan Craft, as well as Broadway performers Juliette and Stephen Trafton for Living Letters. We also hosted screenings of the shows The Chosen and The House of David. 

Worship in the Heart 

Worship in the Heart, a series of worship nights featuring some of the top voices in the worship genre and presented by CREATR, continued this year with Matt Maher, followed by Benjamin William Hastings and Danny Gokey.   

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe | Spring and Fall 2025

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe live onstage. Photo: The Logos Theatre.

After last year’s twin run of Prince Caspian, The Logos Theatre returned this past spring with live performances of the book that started it all—C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. This show was filled with impressive puppetry and action that families enjoyed together, and it was so popular that it returned for another run in the fall. More than 35,000 guests attended this year! This live adaptation offered a fun complement to the C. S. Lewis exhibit, which features a copy of the novel.   

Lewis & Tolkien 

In keeping with the Lewis theme, the theater also featured the show Lewis & Tolkien, an imagined conversation between the two friends and legendary storytellers. This heartwarming play, by Dean Batali (That ’70s Show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), starred Anna Theoni DiGiovanni, Arye Gross, and Bo Foxworth. In this month-long show run, thousands of audience members were engrossed in the witty, humorous, and entertaining dialogue between these two old friends who at times would be at odds in their thinking while still displaying their enduring friendship. 

J. R. R. Tolkien (Bo Foxworth) and C. S. Lewis (Arye Gross) in conversation. Image © Museum of the Bible, 2025. All rights reserved. 

Christmas at the Museum 

Just this month, we hosted several Christmas concerts, featuring Point of Grace along with Jason Gray, Andrew Peterson, Keith & Kristyn Getty, and a candlelight experience, Everlasting Light. Each concert filled the theater with a unique sense of wonder and excitement for the season and invited everyone to celebrate the holiday season with us.   

Image © Museum of the Bible, 2025. All rights reserved. 

See what other performances and productions will be coming in this new year at the World Stage Theater! 

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We are continually grateful for our guests and those who help us make the museum what it is today—a place where the Bible comes to life and a place to dive into its history, impact, and stories. The museum is excited for this new year with more exhibits, programs, shows, and (hopefully) you! Connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and TikTok, and subscribe to get email updates from us to be the first to know about new exhibits and events! 

Published December 25, 2025