History of the Shroud of Turin
“When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away.”
Matthew 27:57-60
There is a widely accepted, continuous historical record that traces the existence and whereabouts of the Shroud back to the 1350s when it was first exhibited in Europe by the family of a French nobleman named Geoffrey de Charny. However, the family always refused to say how it came to be in their possession, so the trail could be thought to end here.
We don’t have any undisputed historical records for the Shroud covering the period from Christ’s death in c.33 AD to its reappearance and display in the 14th century. What we do have are biblical references, eyewitness accounts, coins, and manuscripts dating from this period that seem to mention the cloth, bear an uncanny resemblance to the image on the Shroud, or allude to a miraculous image of Christ that was “not made by hands”.
By piecing together these references, it is possible to complete a historical jigsaw puzzle which traces the Shroud back to first century Judea.
Click on the image links below for details of the history of the Shroud
