A Holy Adventure in Turin
Turin is known for a few different things. For example, the T in Fiat stands for Turin. The city is also know as the epicenter of Italian chocolate. It also claims to have invented vermouth. It's the home of Juventus Football Club. And the city makes the dubious claim of being the home of the slow food movement.
Turin is also home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site Residences of the Royal House Savoy, which is comprised of many former homes, palaces, hunting lodges, and other buildings around the center of Turin.
And of course we can't leave out The Bicerin.
But Turin is probably best known, at least historically, as the resting place of the Shroud of Turin.
What is the Shroud of Turin
The Shroud of Turin is a holy relic, what many believe to be the burial shroud of Jesus Christ, and it's kept in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.
The ultimate origins of the Shroud are hotly debated in ecclesiastical circles, but it was brought to Turin from France in 1578 by the House of Savoy.
It's usually sequestered away in a special climate-controlled case out of public view, but every so often.
But in 2015, the Shroud was opened to public viewing in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist (Cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista) from April 15 through June 24 — and we were visiting right in the middle of that window. It was an opportunity we didn't want to miss.
There was no charge to see the Shroud, but reservations were required. Which we did.
But even though the Church of St. John is located right off Piazzetta Reale and near the Palazzo Reale, the route to see it is a long and circuitous affair. The adventure started in Giardini Reale, near the Monument to the Carabiniere, a statue honoring Italy's national military police force (which as its origins in Turin).
From there, after we checked in, we walked (and walked) with many other people under a series of tented walkways until we got to a small room. We were all invited to sit down and treated to a short film about the shroud presenting the evidence of why many people consider it to be the burial shroud of Jesus Christ.
The film showed the stigmata, the wound in Christ's side (inflicted post-mortem by the Roman centurion Longinus with what is now known as the Spear of Destiny), and even a negative-image of the face imprinted on the Shroud, which looks a lot like Christ was thought to look.
After that, we shuffled along further until we got to the viewing chamber. Surprisingly enough, photographs of the Shroud were allowed. Here’s one now.
We stood there in front of the shroud for about five minutes as a recording in an Italian monotone droned on. I have no idea what it said. Two armed guards stood on either side of the Shroud.
And that was about it. Once the recording ended, we were led through a door and outside the cathedral. I'm not sure what I expected, but the whole affair was a fairly somber, if uneventful, experience. Still, I am glad we got to see the Shroud in person.
As far as I know, 2015 was the last time the Shroud of Turin was placed on public display.
Header Image: The Shroud of Turin. Image from the author's collection.