It is not the product of an artist,” the project’s 1981 report declared. “The Shroud image is that of a real human form of a scourged, crucified man. Their analyses found no sign of artificial pigments. An associate team of European scientists acted as expert observers. They arrived in Turin with seven tons of equipment and worked in shifts 24 hours a day. The project’s 33 members ran the gamut of scientific disciplines, and their credentials included high-level posts at 20 major research institutions. This set the scene for the establishment of the U.S.-led Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP), which was granted an unprecedented five days of continuous access to the shroud itself in 1978. It wasn’t until 1969 that scientists were allowed to examine the fabric directly, with the task of advising on preservation techniques and future testing.
But when Pia examined the reverse negative of his photographic plate in the darkroom, he discovered the detailed likeness of a bearded man with visible wounds on his body.įor seven decades, indirect analyses of the image were conducted by researchers, most aimed at determining whether it had been painted onto the linen or produced through contact with a human corpse. Under normal conditions, only the vague sepia blur of a human body appears on the fabric. Scientific inquiry into the shroud began in 1898, with the startling image captured by Italian amateur photographer Secondo Pia. On April 19, the shroud goes on public display at Turin’s cathedral for seven weeks, its longest exhibition in modern history. “A leap of faith over questions without clear answers is necessary-either the ‘faith’ of skeptics, or the faith of believers.”
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“It is unlikely science will provide a full solution to the many riddles posed by the shroud,” Italian physicist Paolo Di Lazzaro, a leading expert on the phenomenon, told National Geographic. The sum result is a standoff, with researchers unable to dismiss the shroud entirely as a forgery, or prove that it is authentic. Statisticians have combed through mountains of data. Forensic pathologists, microbiologists, and botanists have analyzed its bloodstains, along with specks of dirt and pollen on its surface. Over the 117 years since a photographic negative of the linen unexpectedly revealed the image of a tortured body, ranks of physicists and chemists have weighed in on the fabric’s age and the image’s composition. It is also among the most fiercely debated subjects in contemporary science, an extraordinary mystery that has defied every effort at solution. The 53-square-foot rectangle of linen known as the Shroud of Turin is one of the most sacred religious icons on Earth, venerated by millions of Christians as the actual burial garment of Jesus Christ.