The Shroud of Turin

La Sindone - the Shroud of Turin - is one of the most important Biblical artifacts and one of the biggest attractions in Turin. This piece of cloth is believed to be the shroud that covered Jesus's body in his tomb, and it is famous and important because it appears to have the image of Jesus transferred directly onto the cloth.

The Shroud is kept in this cathedral in the heart of Turin - the Duomo di San Giovanni Battista (Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist).

At the time I took this picture, the cathedral was closed, hence there are no people. But when we came back when it was open, there were several tour groups there. Tourism in Turin is not so big, but I imagine that this is a must-see for the tourists who do come here.

The inside of the church is not as architecturally spectacular as some of the other churches we have seen here, but it is filled with some great religious relics and artwork. The apse of the church has a trompe l'oeil painting on the back wall to give the illusion that the church is bigger than it really is. Now that I think of it, for a "cathedral," the church is actually relatively small.

The huge attractions are along the sides of the church. The walls are lined with alcoves, each ornately decorated and some of which contain relics.

The actual shroud is not publicly displayed, for reasons that are probably not difficult to figure out. It is kept in an ark that can be publicly viewed, but not photographed. The Shroud is only brought out by the pope himself for special occasions. I think there will be a public viewing next summer.

Instead, near the front of the church, they have a replica of the shroud on display, which just looks like a glowing box in this photo because of my camera's exposure and contrast settings or whatnot.

In this picture you can see the image on the Shroud. It's a little misaligned because it's actually two photos spliced together that aren't lined up correctly.

It's clear from the above picture that there is an image on the cloth, but it's hard to tell exactly what it is unless you take a look at the image's negative, which the church has on display right below the Shroud replica.

Today is my last day with internet access at home, so there will likely not be any updates over the weekend. Hopefully, I'll have something to write about at work next week before I finally head back to the US!

And before I close this entry, an odd anecdote from yesterday. On the way back from lunch, two carabinieri (military police) were going into the computer store for a reason we didn't catch. After they exited their car, one of them pretty much goes like "Hold on a sec! I think I forgot something..." when he casually reached into the car and casually pulled out a machine gun, which he casually draped over his shoulder before they casually walked into the store. The carabinieri were being really casual, so I guess nothing too bad was going on, but I guess they might feel a little naked without their machine guns!