Mystery of the Sacred Shroud

This remarkable and rarely seen film chronicles the first public display of the Shroud of Turin for many years, back in 1978. It details the symposium set up to establish the Shroud's authenticity, and tells the history of the Shroud from its discovery, through its various owners and its many brushes with destruction, as well as giving a fascinating insight into how the Shroud came to be photographed - by an amateur, who discovered it to be a negative photographic image which turned positive in his darkroom. This was disputed for many years as an amateur's error until the Shroud was photographed by a professional in the early 1930s, with the same results.

The Shroud is, of course, the image of a man, purportedly Jesus of Nazareth, emblazoned on a length of cloth, 14ft long. The markings indicate that the man has been scourged and crucified, and that he appears to be wearing a crown of thorns. No scientific explanation has been forthcoming as to how such an image came to exist on the cloth, and there are no means of duplicating the process. Even the 1988 Carbon-14 dating of the Shroud to the 13th century could not account for the fact of its existence.

This film is a reverent affair and treats the subject with respect - it serves not only as a travelogue of the Shroud and its history, but of Turin and the pilgrims who made the journey to see the relic in 1978. The film is also graced by a striking and dramatic narration by Richard Burton, whose voice is so invisibly mended that it might as well be that of the Shroud itself.