Shroud Of Turin | History, Description, & Authenticity - Britannica

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Purported discovery and history

An object of debate and devotion
An object of debate and devotionThe Shroud of Turin on public display in 2010.(more)

The first historical account of the shroud occurs in 1354, when it is recorded that it wound up in the hands of a famed knight, Geoffroi de Charnay, seigneur de Lirey. There is no record of how he came into possession of it. In 1389, when it went on exhibition, the shroud was denounced as false by the local bishop of Troyes, who declared it “cunningly painted, the truth being attested by the artist who painted it.” The Avignon antipope Clement VII (reigned 1378–94) refrained from expressing his opinion on the shroud’s authenticity but sanctioned its use as an object of devotion provided that it be exhibited as an “image or representation” of the true shroud.

However, subsequent popes, from Julius II on, took the shroud’s authenticity for granted. In 1453 Geoffroi de Charnay’s granddaughter Marguerite gave the shroud to the house of Savoy at Chambéry, and there it was damaged by fire and water in 1532. It was moved to the new Savoyard capital of Turin in 1578. Ever since, it has been publicly exhibited only rarely, as on the marriage of Prince Umberto (1931) and on the 400th anniversary of its arrival in Turin (1978).

In 1998 and 2000 Pope John Paul II arranged for public viewings; he called the shroud “a mirror of the Gospel.” Pope Benedict XVI similarly arranged a public display, in 2010, and Pope Francis made a pilgrimage to see it in 2015. A replica of the shroud is housed in the Museum of the Shroud in Turin.

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