A professor of organic chemistry at the University of Pavia (Italy) claims that he was able to reproduce the Turin Shroud.
According to Luigi Garlaschelli, his achievement finally proves that the shroud is a medieval fake.
The original Shroud of Turin (left) and a duplicate of Professor Garlaskelli.
The Shroud of Turin is a four-meter canvas in which, according to legend, Joseph of Arimathea wrapped the body of Jesus Christ after his suffering and death on the cross. In it, Jesus was buried in an empty, previously unused tomb. In 1898, when the shroud was on display, amateur photographer Secondo Pia, who took several pictures of the artifact, unexpectedly discovered a human face on the negatives. The conclusion he made is this: the face and body of Jesus was imprinted on the shroud. According to some researchers, traces of a crown of thorns and even prints of coins from the time of Pontius Pilate also remained on the shroud.
Some believers are convinced that the shroud contains genuine imprints of the face and body of Jesus, and therefore they value it as one of the most important relics of Christianity. The Catholic Church does not officially recognize the Shroud as genuine, but considers it to be an important reminder of the Passion of Christ. The Orthodox Church does not have an official position on the issue of its authenticity.
In 1988, attempts were made to radiocarbon date the Shroud, which gave in different laboratories (in Arizona, Oxford and Zurich) close date ranges - from 1260 to 1390. Later, these results were questioned: skeptics suggested that the analysis used samples taken not from the main tissue, but from patches.
During the experiment, Luigi Garlaskelli created a full-sized duplicate of the shroud with the image, using technologies and materials available in the Middle Ages. The professor and his colleagues put linen on a volunteer and rubbed the fabric with a dye with a low acid content. The dye was then artificially aged by heating the fabric in an oven and then washing. As a result, the coloring matter disappeared from the surface of the material, but left an indistinct, half-tone image of a person - the same as on the original shroud. Garlaskelli believes that medieval crooks did not age the dye artificially - over the centuries it faded itself. Then the scientists applied drops of blood to the fabric, burned holes and made tan marks. As a result, one hundred percent similarity with the Turin Shroud was achieved.
The professor does not expect his discovery to be accepted by believers; what can I say if people did not appreciate the results of radiocarbon dating, carried out in the best laboratories in the world.
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By the way, Professor Luigi Garlaskelli received money for the experiment from the Italian Association of Atheists and Agnostics. However, the scientist reminds with some irony that money does not smell, and the source of funding could in no way affect the results of the study.
