Travis Simpkins: Secrets: The Turin Shroud

Secrets: The Turin Shroud

by Travis Simpkins

The Shroud of Turin is, perhaps, one of the most mysterious relics in all of Christianity. Debate about it's authenticity has long been passionately argued on both sides of the equation. Whether it is the actual burial cloth placed around the body of Jesus Christ after the Crucifixion, or rather, if it is a medieval forgery, remained the two primary cases presented over the past 100 years. The Vatican's refusal to take a position on the matter has added further fuel for skeptics. Produced in 2013 for the Smithsonian Channel, Secrets: The Turin Shroud looks at those two arguments plus two newer ideas over the span of 50 minutes. Part of the suspicion around the Shroud of Turin stems from it's absence in historical records before 1390, when in miraculously turned up in the French town of Lirey, supposedly retrieved during the Crusades. It was immediately dismissed as a hoax, the shroud was passed along and found it's way to Turin, Italy by 1578. Things were quiet until 1898, when the first photographs of the Shroud were taken and published (the image is most legible in the negatives). This notoriety elevated the relic from obscure novelty to news sensation. However, it wasn't until 1978 that a full-access scientific examination of the Shroud was permitted. Subsequent tests, including carbon dating, put the manufacture of the cloth at between the 13th and 14th Centuries, but true believers still refuse to be swayed. The four theories presented in the documentary are 1) The Medieval Art Theory, 2) The Decomposition Theory, 3) The Photography Theory and 4) The Hidden Message Theory. The strongest arguments presented are 1, 2 and 3. Based on the lack of pigment and evidence of brushstrokes, Professor Luigi Garlaschelli sets about demonstrating how to make a forgery of the shroud using a bas relief. His results are the most impressive and compelling of all. Barrie Schwortz (who was part of the original examination in 1978) uses a dead pig to test whether the chemical reactions of decomposition could leave a visible mark on cloth. Professor Nicholas Allen presents a more innovative theory, suggesting that the Shroud is actually the world's oldest photograph, created in the 14th Century by way of a camera obscura and silver nitrate dissolved by ammonia. The hidden messages on the cloth, supposedly written in Hebrew and Latin, seem to be quickly dismissed as optical tricks and wishful thinking. Much insight is given by experts, including Dr. Robert Maniura, Dr. Barbara Frale, Professor Tim Jordan and Teresinha Roberts. In the end, the mystery of the Shroud of Turin remains, but intriguing demonstrations and technical data add great scale to the topic.