| Qumran, Kumran | ||
 Caves in Qumran | ||
| Short dates | ||
| Internet | Side of the national park | |
|---|---|---|
| phone | 972 (0)2-994-2235 | |
| location | ||
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Qumran, occasionally too Kumran, (Hebrew: חירבת קומראן "Chirbet Kumran", Arabic: خربة قمران "Khirbet Qumran") is an excavation site and at the same time a israeli national park in the Judean desert at Kibbutz Kalia (Qalya). This region belongs to West Bank, so is actually Palestinian territory, however, this part of the West Bank is subject to Israeli Administration.
Qumran is part of many organized trips to the Holy Land. Since you usually won't be here for more than two hours (unless you go on a short hike in the area), a visit to Qumran can be combined with a visit to the Dead Sea or other destinations in the area .
background
Qumran is an important archaeological site in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The site itself is about 100 m above the Dead Sea on an elevated plateau. At the turn of the ages (around 100 BC to 70 AD) Qumran was possibly the seat of a Jewish sect, perhaps the Essenes, who maintained a settlement there. The thesis has been put forward on various occasions that Jesus or John the Baptist might have been close to that sect. In the meantime, however, it is disputed whether the settlement was actually a monastic community; some researchers assume that Qumran was just an estate.
Qumran is best known because very old scrolls, including Bible manuscripts, were found here: The oldest were made around 250 BC. According to a popular but probably not applicable legend, these manuscripts were found by chance when a shepherd in 1947 in looking for a runaway goat in the area and throwing a stone into a cave. When he heard a clang, he is said to have examined the cave more closely and found the writings in clay jugs. The rolls were sold and later discovered by chance in a market and bought by a scientist. In the 1950s and 1960s, the area was searched systematically for the first time, further scrolls and fragments were discovered in various caves and the ancient settlement was excavated.
The Dead Sea Scrolls caused a sensation in the professional world because they contained many interesting writings of the local sect and also the oldest manuscripts of various biblical books; the climate at the Dead Sea was ideal to preserve the scriptures for many centuries. However, only a few roles are fully preserved; only fragments remain of many books. The scriptures also proved that the biblical books were transmitted very precisely despite the earlier continuous copying and that the texts have hardly changed over the long term.
One of the reasons why Qumran and his writings are known to the general public is that several pseudoscientific books were published in the 1990s that claimed that the Vatican held back many writings from Qumran in his archives because they contained explosive information, e.g. about Jesus or early Christianity. However, these claims were apparently incorrect.
Some of the scriptures found in Qumran are today in the Shrine of the Book in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem exhibited or are in the Archaeological Museum in Amman to find.
getting there
By plane
The closest airport is the Ben Gurion Airport at Tel Aviv. You can rent a car there (to be on the safe side, ask whether there are any restrictions on driving on the West Bank). If you want to use public transport, you have to rely on buses, the journey then takes place via Jerusalem.
By train
Like the Dead Sea as a whole, Qumran is not connected to the rail network and therefore cannot be reached by train.
By bus
The national park can not be reached by train, but by various bus routes. The journey almost always takes place via Jerusalem; the bus lines that go from there to the Dead Sea and onwards - e.g. with the destination En Gedi, Neve Zohar or Eilat - can be used to travel to Qumran. Of Beer Sheva there is no direct connection. To get from there to Qumran, one would have to take one of the few buses to Ein Gedi (384, three times a day) and change there.
The bus stop is not located directly on the premises, but on main road 90, where the cul-de-sac to Qumran or Kalia branches off. From there you have to walk a short distance (approx. 5 minutes) uphill. You shouldn't rely on the bus driver to think about stopping in Qumran (even if you bought a ticket from him). However, if you keep your eyes open, that's not a problem; there are clearly recognizable signs and the bus stop is just behind the intersection, so you have enough time to ring the bell. Alternatively, you can speak to the bus driver again briefly as soon as you are in sight of the Dead Sea, because you will then drive a few more minutes.
Basically, you should check the timetables before arriving or bring enough time with you: The buses only run irregularly, sometimes two buses run an hour, but there can be a larger gap of almost three hours in the afternoon and there are from the early evening hours hardly any connections. If you are driving on from Qumran, you should be at the bus stop before the time indicated in the timetable or on the internet: the times are estimated times, if the roads are clear the bus may leave a few minutes earlier.
| aim | Bus routes | Connection density during the day | Duration approx. | Price NIS | Hints |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jerusalem | 421, 444, 486, 487 | irregular, about every 1-2 hours | 0:45 | 26,00 | To Jerusalem the bus runs about 30 minutes longer |
| En Gedi | 421, 444, 486, 487 | irregular, about every 1-2 hours | 0:30 | 28,00 | 444 stops in En Gedi only along the main road, 487 on the way from Jerusalem only in the kibbutz |
| Masada | 421, 444, 486 | irregular, about every 1-2 hours | 0:50 | 31,50 | Buses also stop in En Bokek (36.00 NIS, 1 hour) |
| Eilat | 444 | about 5 times / day | 4:00 | 73,00 | |
| Notes: In some cases, not all lines to the destination are mentioned here (e.g. if there are many different lines between two cities or very few journeys on one line). However, the specified cycle density refers to all available connections. Links in the table lead to the mobility information of the respective location. Swell: Egged and Otobusim.co.il; Status: 08/2010 - * Lines with a star are not served by Egged, but by another company. | |||||
In the street
Qumran is located on Israeli Road 90. This road runs on the west bank of the Jordan and the Dead Sea in a north-south direction through Israel and the West Bank and then on to Eilat. From Jerusalem you can get to Road 90 via Road 1 towards Jericho; near Jericho, turn south on the intersecting road 90. Apart from the road 90 and its feeder road, no access is possible.
Entrances and opening times
The national park is open from April to September from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., from October to March only until 4 p.m. last admission is one hour before closing. The entrance fee is 20 NIS for adults and 9 NIS for children; there are various discounts, including for seniors and groups. (As of August 2010)
mobility
Within the national park area, the sights can be reached on foot. Parts of the site are also accessible for wheelchair users.
Tourist Attractions
in the archaeological site of Qumran you can visit the excavated remains of the settlement, which was probably built here by a Jewish sect or monastic community. The watchtower gives you a good overview of the area; the various basins for ritual ablutions, the water supply and various rooms, e.g. the large assembly room and the office, are also of interest. At the southern end of the site you can see caves in which some of the scrolls were found.
A green marked path reaches the rocky slope after approx. 500 m in the west with numerous small caves, one or the other can be easily reached with a little climbing (however, this is not the cave in which the scrolls were found).
There is a visitor center at the entrance; There you can also watch a film about Qumran - among other things in German.
activities
One usually only comes to Qumran to see the excavations and the caves. You can also go hiking in the area and there are official beaches on the Dead Sea a few minutes' drive away.
to buy
In the access area of the park you can buy drinks, ice cream, snacks and various souvenirs, among other things.
to eat and drink
There is a restaurant in the visitor center area.
Sleep
There is no overnight accommodation in Qumran. The next overnight accommodation is in the neighboring kibbutz Kalia, there is a kibbutz hotel here:
The site can be reached in a day trip from Jerusalem, and there are also overnight accommodations at the Israeli stretches of coast of the Dead Sea, e.g. in En Gedi or En Bokek.
security
There are no particular security risks in Qumran. Although the site is located in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, it can usually still be visited without any problems.
In summer you should bring a hat and drink enough, because it can get very hot at the Dead Sea. The park administration advises against visits on summer afternoons.
trips
- The Palestinian city is located about 20 km north of Qumran Jericho. Jericho can usually also be visited without any problems, it is considered to be one of the quietest Palestinian cities in the West Bank, arguments were rare here even during the Intifada.
- A long way to the south (almost 40 km) is the oasis of - again on Israeli territory En Gedi.
- It is not too far from En Gedi (about another 20 km) to the famous rock fortress Masada. This fortress on a rocky plateau goes back to Herod the Great and is best known because, according to legend, a crowd of Jews was able to assert themselves against a Roman overwhelming force here for a long time.
- Jerusalem with its sights is about 40 km northwest of Qumran.
