Shroud of Turin

The Shroud of Turin is reputedly Christ's burial cloth. It has been a religious relic since the Middle Ages. To believers it was divine proof the Christ was resurrected from the grave, to doubters it was evidence of human gullibility and one of the greatest hoaxes in the history of art. No one has been able to prove that it is the burial cloth of Jesus of Nazareth, but its haunting image of a man's wounded body is proof enough for true believers.

The Shroud of Turin, as seen by the naked eye, is a negative image of a man with his hands folded.

The linen is 14 feet, 3 inches long and 3 feet, 7 inches wide.

The shroud bears the image of a man with wounds similar to those suffered by Jesus.

The shroud is wrapped in red silk and kept in a silver chest in the Chapel of the Holy Shroud in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy since 1578.

The shroud is unquestionably old. Its history is known from the year 1357, when it surfaced in the tiny village of Lirey, France.

Until recent reports from San Antonio, most of the scientific world accepted the findings of carbon dating carried out in 1988.

The results said the shroud dated back to 1260-1390, and thus is much too new to be Jesus'

burial linen.

The section of the shroud showing the face reveals dramatic features
when viewed as negative image (click on the right image to enlarge).