The Borgias TV - Spitting Image TV - Arthur C Clarke TV - Walter McCrone - STURP statement 1981 - Barrie Schwortz - Emily Craig - Nicholas Allen - Lillian F Schwartz - The Da Vinci Shroud: Revealed TV - Clive Prince & Lynn Picknett - Joe Marino - Decoding the Past: Unravelling the Shroud TV - Turin Shroud: The New Evidence TV - Joseph G Marino and M Sue Benford - Shroud of Turin TV - Leonardo: The Man Behind the Shroud TV - Russ Breault - The Real Face of Jesus? TV - Philip Gardiner - Remaking the Shroud TV - Richard Kaeuper - Ancient X Files TV - Secrets of the Bible TV - In Search of … TV - Treasures Decoded TV - Conspiracies Decoded TV - Shroud of Turin: Material Evidence TV -
It looks convincing. It definitely cost enough. The Borgias s3e8: Tears of Blood, Caterina Sforza, Showtime 2013
Commentator: How did you prove the Turin Shroud was authentic? Was it carbon dating?
Cardinal: No, I looked in the pockets ... The blessed toffee. Spitting Image s2e3, ITV 1985
We washed two identical Turin Shrouds – one in ordinary washing powder and one in new biological question mark. And just look at the difference. Spitting Image s2e4
The Shroud is considered so sacred that it is kept under top security in a sealed box in Turin Cathedral ... The linen cloth is fourteen feet long. The first certain record of it dates from the Middle Ages when it belonged to a crusading knight. Arthur C Clarke’s Mysterious Universe, ITV 1994
In 1978 the Church allowed an international team of scientists to study the Shroud at close quarters. To reveal its underside the Sisters of St Joseph snipped it from its backing. With sticky tape the scientists lifted tiny fibres from the blood-like stains. A few precious samples were sent to Dr Walter McCrone. ibid.
Ten years later the Church agreed to the ultimate test. Carbon 14 dating would at last establish when the cloth was made ... Samples were sent to laboratories in three different countries. Their verdict was unanimous: the Shroud is medieval. ibid.
The Shroud is a painting. Dr Walter McCrone
In 1389 the Bishop d’Arcis writes a letter to Pope Clement complaining about this false relic of the Shroud that’s being displayed at a neighbouring church. Professor Larissa Tracy, Longwood University
We can conclude for now that the Shroud image is that of a real human form of a scourged, crucified man. It is not the product of an artist. The blood stains are composed of haemoglobin and also give a positive test for serum albumin. The image is an ongoing mystery and until further chemical studies are made, perhaps by this group of scientists, or perhaps by some scientists in the future, the problem remains unsolved. STURP statement 1981
Over the years the real Shroud historians have always associated the Shroud at some point in its history with the Knights Templar. Barrie Schwortz, STURP photographer
Anatomically it’s not correct. The arms are just too long. The fingers are too long. The head and face are not in proportion to the rest of the body. It’s different from front to back. Dr Emily Craig, forensic anthropologist
If you look at the Shroud of Turin as it appears to the naked eye you see a negative image of a human being. And if you take another photograph of that, you produce a positive image of that human being, which means the Shroud is acting as a negative. And that in itself is a very good clue that it was made photographically. Professor Nicholas Allen, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
If there is silver bound in the linen at a molecular level it would be the final support for the photographic hypothesis. Professor Nicholas Allen
I saw this image coming down – it was half of Leonardo and half of Mona Lisa ... The proportions that Leonardo wrote about were used in creating this Shroud’s face. Lillian F Schwartz, School of Visual Arts New York & OSU
The image on the Turin Shroud has baffled the world’s top scientists for decades. Despite thousands of tests researchers couldn’t identify how it was made. Revealed: The Da Vinci Shroud, Channel 5 2009
When a flat cloth wraps a three-dimensional object like a human head the image transferred to the cloth is always distorted. The ears are so widely spaced that the face looks bloated and inhuman. Very different from the image on the Shroud. ibid.
At some point over the decades the Shroud underwent a seemingly miraculous transformation. When it reappeared it was no longer seen as an obvious fake, a bad painting, the Turin Shroud was praised as a true holy relic. Even the Pope declared it genuine. ibid.
In the 15th century Leonardo produced work for many of Italy’s rich families. In Florence’s Royal Library there’s evidence that connects him directly to the owners of the Shroud – the Savoys. ibid.
Although the cloth can be carbon-dated it’s impossible for scientists to date the actual image itself. It could have been created any time after 1260. ibid.
Although the camera wasn’t invented until the nineteenth century its forerunner – an optical device called a camera obscurer – had been around since 400 B.C. To test his theory Allen sets out to recreate the Shroud image by building a camera obscurer. Allen hangs a life-size model of a human body outside a building. Inside, he has blacked out a room, and in the wall he has placed a round crystal lens. Allen then stretches a length of cloth over a frame. The cloth has been soaked in silver sulphate which makes it light sensitive just like photographic film. All the materials he uses were available in fifteenth century Italy, the time when Da Vinci was at the height of his creative powers. Once the lens is uncovered, light streams into the room and projects a photographically perfect upside-down image of the body on to the linen. This is the same principle as a film camera. Only here the image is projected on to light-sensitive cloth. ibid.
Amazingly the two faces [Mona Lisa and Shroud] lined up perfectly ... Schwartz’s discovery is further proof that Da Vinci must have had a hand in the creation of this enduring image of Christ. ibid.
It’s the connection we’ve always been looking for: to prove a connection between Leonardo and the Shroud. Clive Prince, co-author The Turin Shroud – How Leonardo da Vinci Fooled History
We are looking at a photograph of a crucified man. Leonardo took a body from one of the stock of bodies he dissected for his anatomical research, and he truly crucified it. Lynn Picknett, co-author The Turin Shroud – How Leonardo Da Vinci Fooled History
6Our theory is that there is a mixture of sixteenth century cloth and first century cloth, and the data that we’re finding on the cloth matches that theory. Joe Marino
This law of optics and the principle of the camera obscurer had both been understood since the 5th century A.D. Some enthusiasts think that Leonardo could have applied the law as no-one had previously, and created the ghostly image on the Shroud. If it is Leonardo’s handiwork, its power to transfix seems just as strong as if it were genuinely the result of Christ’s resurrection. Decoding the Past s1e7: Unravelling the Shroud, History 2005
Some proportions of the Shroud image are anatomically incorrect ... The forehead of the Shroud figure is too short, the face too narrow, the arms extend further down than is humanly possible: is this proof that the Shroud figure is something other than the image of Jesus or any other person, or is there yet another explanation to make sense of the flawed proportions? ibid.
Crucifixion was a gruesome, drawn out and painful death reserved for criminals and the lowest rung of Roman society. It’s difficult to get scientific data on Crucifixion because the last official Roman crucifixion happened in the year 337. Turin Shroud: The New Evidence, History 2009
The Roman practice of nailing the victim’s palms to the cross would have ruptured the media nerve turning the thumbs inwards. A careful examination of the Shroud revealed exactly this. The thumbs were hidden under the palms. Just as one would expect in a crucifixion. ibid.
The crucifixion of Christ. The most iconic event in the Christian faith. For centuries people believed his body was wrapped in a linen cloth: the Shroud of Turin. And imprinted on the fabric was the actual face of Christ. ibid.
But the Shroud had its share of misfortune. Fire nearly destroyed it in 1532, and water stained the image. Nuns repaired the Shroud and attached a protective backing cloth. In 1578 the Shroud moved to its current resting place in northern Italy. ibid.
Finally, in 1978, despite strong resistance from some in the Vatican the Church agreed. For the first time Science had a chance to test the authenticity of one of Christianity’s holiest relics. The scientists were not allowed to mark, cut or damage the Shroud in any way. The team’s main goal was the discover how the image got on the Shroud. ibid.
The chemical signature of real blood. The team had discovered a powerful connection to the Crucifixion. When haemoglobin breaks down it creates bilirubin, the substance that causes bruises to turn yellow. Analysis showed that the stains contained very high levels of bilirubin, consistent with the trauma of crucifixion. And UV photography revealed one more incredible clue: serum is the liquid medium in which red blood cells are suspended; it remained invisible until UV light made the dried serum fluoresce. ibid.
For the test each lab worked in isolation. Finally after checking and re-checking the results they had the answer. They knew how old the Shroud was. The Shroud was dated between 1260 and 1390. The result was a stunning revelation making headlines around the world. ibid.