The Shroud of Turin Italian : Sindone di Torino , also known as the Holy Shroud [ 2 ] [ 3 ] Italian: Sacra Sindone , is a length of linen cloth that bears a faint image of the front and back of a naked man. Because details of the image are consistent with traditional depictions of Jesus of Nazareth after his death by crucifixion , the shroud has been venerated for centuries, especially by members of the Catholic Church , as Jesus's actual burial shroud upon which his image was miraculously imprinted.
The human image on the shroud can be discerned more clearly in a black and white photographic negative than in its natural sepia color , an effect discovered in by Secondo Pia , who produced the first photographs of the shroud.
This negative image is associated with a popular Catholic devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus. The documented history of the shroud dates back to , when it began to be exhibited in the new collegiate church of Lirey , a village in north-central France.
The microscopist Walter McCrone found, based on his examination of samples taken in from the surface of the shroud using adhesive tape , that the image on the shroud had been painted with a dilute solution of red ochre pigment in a gelatin medium.
McCrone found that the apparent bloodstains were painted with vermilion pigment, also in a gelatin medium. The nature and history of the shroud have been the subjects of extensive and long-lasting controversies in both the scholarly literature and the popular press.
