Shroud of Turin Exhibit Opens in Turin, Italy
Purported burial shroud of Jesus is on display until June 24, 2015
The Shroud of Turin exhibit is open until June 24, 2015, in Turin, Italy. Photo: Vernon Miller.
The Shroud of Turin—purported to be the burial shroud of Jesus of Nazareth—is back on public display in Turin, Italy, after a five-year hiatus. It is free to view the shroud, but visits must be booked in advance. More than one million people have already signed up—including Pope Francis, who will be viewing the shroud during his visit of Turin on June 20–21. The Shroud of Turin exhibit is open until June 24, 2015, at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.
The authenticity of this alleged burial shroud of Jesus has long been a subject of debate. Measuring 14 by 3.5 feet, the linen cloth bears the front and back images of a man who had been crucified. A number of scientific tests have been done on the shroud, including pollen analysis, X-ray fluorescence examination and radiocarbon dating—which dated the burial cloth to the 13th–14th-century.
Whether the Shroud of Turin is attested in the historical record before the 14th century is another matter of debate. We do know that in the mid-14th century, what we now call the Shroud of Turin was put on display in Lirey, France. Vaughn M. Bryant, Jr., describes how the shroud came to Turin in the November/December 2000 issue of BAR:
In 1357 a French nobleman, Geoffrey de Charmy, displayed a cloth to the public in Lirey, France, as the “true burial shroud of Jesus.” However, he never revealed where the shroud came from nor how he acquired it. This is the first verifiable reference to the object now called the Shroud of Turin. In 1453 that cloth was given to the King of Savoy. For more than a century, it remained in a castle belonging to the House of Savoy in Chambéry, France. After surviving a fire in the castle in 1532, the shroud was eventually brought to Turin, where it has remained since 1578, in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.
The controversy surrounding the possible burial shroud of Jesus has not, however, deterred visitors from traveling the globe to come to the Shroud of Turin exhibit.
“Whether you believe or don’t believe, there is no doubt it is something special,” said one of the first visitors to see the shroud this week to AFP news agency.
Our free eBook Ten Top Biblical Archaeology Discoveries brings together the exciting worlds of archaeology and the Bible! Learn the fascinating insights gained from artifacts and ruins, like the Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem, where the Gospel of John says Jesus miraculously restored the sight of the blind man, and the Tel Dan inscription—the first historical evidence of King David outside the Bible.
Learn more about the Shroud of Turin in the BAS Library:
Vaughn M. Bryant, Jr., “Does Pollen Prove the Shroud Authentic?” Biblical Archaeology Review, November/December 2000.
Gary Vikan, “Debunking the Shroud: Made by Human Hands,” Biblical Archaeology Review, November/December 1998.
Suzanne F. Singer, “Has the Shroud of Turin Been Dated—Finally?” Bible Review, April 1989.
Joseph A. Kohlbeck and Eugenia L. Nitowski, “New Evidence May Explain Image on Shroud of Turin,” Biblical Archaeology Review, July/August 1986.
Robert A. Wild, “The Shroud of Turin—Probably the Work of a 14th-Century Artist or Forger,” Biblical Archaeology Review, March/April 1984.
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hello
God Bless
i would very much like to visit and view the Shroud of Turin
would it be possible this year 2017 may 15th
will get tour guide if necessary
My name is Karen Purvis from The Whole Truth Church of Deliverance, located in South Philadelphia. We are located in the Pennsport Mall (corner of Moyamensing Ave. & Moore St.) 3rd & Moore St. You walk through the parking through the black gates into a small private mall. A couple of doors from Gooey Looie’s . I had witness with my own eyes a moving picture in the sanctuary. I have seen a cloud moving on this picture, especially when the Pastor speaks or sings. A moving picture is phenomenon that only God can create. It is a picture that is created, produced, painted, drawn or sculptured by the hand of God. One picture changes so many different times. I have at least six pictures in my camera of this one picture. And each picture is different showing something else. Yet, it is the same one picture, unbelievable, yet it is true! The most shocking thing that I caught, is taking a picture of the same picture now! I saw on the picture what looked like either lambs or lions moving right before my eyes. I got a little video of it before I had to leave out, moving in my camera. I was shocked! One girl told me that she seen wings coming in and out of the top of the picture. There is a big story behind this picture. I took a picture of what suppose to have been the Pastor. And I thought I had seen the sun, a holy light in the center of the picture and it was the Pastor. It looked like she had two wings coming out of her back. And other people had seen various things in the picture like dancing, but I have caught it in my camera.
Lo trascendente de la sabana de Turin es que, tras cientos o miles de años, dejando a un lado la religiosidad; con la tecnología actual y sumando a ello el caudal de conocimiento científico en todas sus ramas, el histórico y deductivo que el ser humano posee hoy día… esta tela nos sigue sorprendiendo; y si fuera una impresión hecha por manos humanas, es sorprendente, por lo detallado del conocimiento sobre el cuerpo humano y su esqueleto, .. y si fue hecha por obra milagrosa divina del poder resucitador de Dios, es más sorprendente..!! pues en los pequeños detalles es donde la mano del ser humano no se compara con lo divino… lo cierto es que las ultimas investigaciones del 2010 a la fecha nos dan la certeza de que efectivamente podo haber contenido el cuerpo de Jesús de Nazaret.
The Shroud may be older. The problem with the 1988 C-12 test is contamination from display and from being exposed to one or more fires. The date is not a settled question.
Oh, if people would just rely on God’s Word. The Apostle John in Chapter 20, verse 6. “Then Simon Peter came, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.”
News stories never even scratch the surface when it comes to the shroud…the evidence for authenticity is overwhelming…for instance, they never mention the sudarium of Oviedo, the facecloth that corresponds in blood type, bloodstains, and pollen with the shroud, yet has known to be in been in spain since the 7th century…the shroud is authentic!…for more, check out: https://www.shroud.com/ & http://shroudstory.com/
38After these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission. So he came and took away His body. 39Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight. 40So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.–John 19:38-40
According to John, Jesus was cleaned and anointed in spices, therefore there would be no bloody cloth to sit in Turin today. His body was wrapped in linen, using the plural, so they may have wrapped his upper, middle and lower body with seperate strips. The other gospels mention strips of linen, not one whole cloth.
Despite all that has been said over the years, to me, the face of the man in the image looks northern French, and not Galilean.
Nope: That particular “carbon dating” test has long been challenged as having been biased and poorly conducted both scientific technique and evaluation.
The Shroud of Turin—Authentic?
Perhaps the most famous feature of Turin is the shroud that some believe is the winding-sheet in which Christ’s body was wrapped. A travel guidebook explains: “The most famous—and most dubious—holy relic of them all is kept in Turin’s duomo [cathedral].” It is permanently exhibited in one of the duomo’s chapels, locked in an airtight, bulletproof glass case filled with an inert gas. The book goes on to say: “In 1988, however, the myth of the shroud was exploded: a carbon-dating test showed that it dates back no farther than the 12th century.”