Preface
The Shroud of Turin is an ancient linen cloth bearing the front and back image of
a tortured, crucified man—consistent with the Gospel accounts. For that reason it
has become the most intensively studied faith-related artifact associated with the
resurrection of Jesus Christ within the scientific community.
The first documented history of the "shroud" dates to 1354, when the cloth,
4.4 meters long and 1.1 meters wide, was displayed by the French knight Geoffroi
de Charny in a church in the village of Lirey in central France. The knight claimed
that this was the true burial cloth of Jesus. In 1453 De Charny’s descendants
transferred the shroud to the House of Savoy, which placed it once again under
royal custody. It was kept in a chapel in Chambéry, where it was damaged by fire
in 1532. In 1578 the shroud was transferred to the new capital of the House of
Savoy, Turin, where it has remained ever since. From 1683 the cloth was housed in
the Chapel of the Holy Shroud, and in 1983, upon the death of King Umberto II,
ownership was transferred to the Catholic Church.
Although the image on the cloth is faint, the first photographs of the shroud,
taken in 1898, revealed that the 'negatives' produced a much clearer image than
either the original linen or the positive photographs. Similar results were found
with photographs from 1931. Some maintain that these images are authentic
representations of Jesus Christ.
However, doubts have persisted as to whether the shroud is in fact the actual
cloth in which the body of Christ was wrapped when he was taken down from the
cross. Although there are accounts of a burial cloth—said to be Jesus’—that during
the first millennium was in the possession of Byzantine emperors, that cloth
appears to have been lost with the sack of Constantinople in 1204. There seem to
be no records linking that cloth—or others venerated at various sites—to the
shroud currently in Turin.
Since the earliest days of its exhibition at Lirey, there have been questions
about its authenticity. Allegations were made that Geoffroi de Charny had
acquired the shroud illegally, by theft or other unlawful means. He wished to
generate substantial income from exhibitions at the collegiate church of Lirey, in
the diocese of Troyes; the church had been built by him precisely for