EDINBURGH shelved plans to host its own Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition when it emerged Glasgow was seeking to show the documents, theology academics claimed yesterday.
At the launch of a conference at Edinburgh University examining the historical context of the scrolls, organisers said they had planned to bring them to the capital, but cancelled the project on hearing of Glasgow's interest.
They also revealed Edinburgh was the first Scottish city to show the scrolls, believed to provide an insight into the origins of both Judaism and Christianity, in an exhibition 32 years ago at the National Library of Scotland.
Principal organiser Dr Timothy Lim said the conference had not been deliberately timed to coincide with the Glasgow exhibition.
''We didn't realise that they were having an exhibition in Glasgow and we had in fact planned on having an exhibition ourselves in Edinburgh, but the end result was that we decided just to leave it and let Glasgow have their exhibition and Edinburgh their conference. This is Edinburgh and Glasgow co-operating.''
Co-organiser Professor Graeme Auld criticised Lord Provost Pat Lally over his assertion that the Glasgow exhibition represented their first appearance in Britain. ''They were in Edinburgh 32 years ago, but the Lord Provost of Glasgow does not always know what happened more than 30 years ago in Edinburgh.''
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