The actual shroud is kept in the city of Turin, hence the name and bears an extraordinary image of a crucified man on the cloth. The interesting thing is that the image on the cloth is similar to that of a photographic negative and when a positive image is made, it takes on a remarkable resemblance to a real picture of a crucified man.
Some Christians and even some people of no religious affiliation believe that it is the actual imprint of Jesus that was miraculously imprinted on the cloth as he was resurrected. It can be traced back to the middle ages but its provenance prior to that is not proven. Over the years many people have tried to prove its authenticity while others have tried to prove it was an elaborate hoax carried out by a very skilful artist such as Leonardo Da Vince.
There is no provable paint pigment on the cloth and the image does seem to be the result of some sort of ‘photographic’ exposure that only chemically changed the upper surface of the cloth. When the image is viewed using another technique of using the highlighted areas, an amazing 3D image is also revealed of a man’s body, face and hair. What is more remarkable is that blood patterns emerge on the wrists and forehead that seem to flow in a realistic pattern.
Some investigators say that the features strongly resemble those of Leonardo and he was well known for using his own image in other paintings (possibly the Mona Lisa). He also tended to mock certain figures of authority so to produce such an item as the shroud would not be out of character for him, in addition he was skilled in anatomy and was aware of early photographic tricks such as the ‘camera obscurer’ which project outside images onto a wall in a dark room using only a pinhole in a covered window and natural sunlight.
Some years ago the Vatican allowed a small section to be cut from the shroud and carbon dated to prove or disprove its authenticity. Several testing houses were involved including one in the UK and all came back with a date that put it in the category of a middle ages fake. The controversy still continued with some people claiming that as the cloth had been repaired by nuns after a fire nearly destroyed it, that the sample used in the tests was actually not part of the real shroud and the presence of cotton (that was not known at the time) had given a misleading date making it appear to be much younger than it really was.
The latest twist is that the discovery of a real burial shroud of exactly the same period found in a sealed tomb in Israel is adding more evidence that the Turin one is actually a fake. It would seem that the cloth of the Turin shroud is a twill weave something not used until around 1000 years after Jesus lived, whereas the one found in the tomb is a double cross weave said to be typical of the time.
The Turin shroud is also one piece of cloth measuring 14 feet by 3 feet which experts say is not typical of a burial shroud of the time as these were a two piece arrangement with one wrapping the body and another placed over the face. Apparently this was done so that anyone not really dead could blow it away from the face and call for help.
They also believed that this was the reason that families (as in the case of Jesus) would return to the tomb after 3 days to check that the person was really dead and not in some sort of comatose state. DNA tests have shown that the original owner of the shroud died of leprosy and this is probably the reason that the tomb was sealed, thus preserving the 2000 year old shroud.
) As I said I do believe he was a character from history and any proof of his existance or facts about his life I would be interested to know about in a historical context. I have heard that a nun who cares for the shroud in the Vatican has made a claim that she has seen the inscription 'Jesus Nazareth' on the shroud, but it is probably another hoax similar to the ossuary (a bone box) that claimed to have the inscription 'Jesus, son of Joseph, brother of James' written in an ancient script on the outside.
