An exhibition featuring a rare full-size copy of the Shroud of Turin – which has been on show at Westminster Cathedral, Dublin Pro-Cathedral and Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral – can now be seen at All Saints Church, Rockwell Green.

The exhibition includes original Roman nails, a replica whip and spear, as well as the 15ft replica image, a photograph printed onto cotton by American photographer Barrie Schwortz, official photographer at the STuRP (Shroud of Turin Research Project) examination of the Shroud in 1978.

The replica will be on display at All Saints from Saturday to Monday, September 11 to 13, and may be viewed outside of service times.

The genuine Shroud of Turin, which shows the image of a man who has been crucified, is preserved with great reverence in the Cathedral of Turin and the full-length replica is very rare. 

Exhibition curator Pam Moon said: “It is possible to get an idea of the Shroud from television pictures, books, magazines and newspapers articles, but seeing it in its entirety is very challenging and moving.” 

One of the purposes of the exhibition is to show the brutality of crucifixion and to tell the story of the crucifixion of Jesus. There are information boards about art, history and the latest research on the Shroud.

No-one understands how the image appears on the Shroud. The STuRP team discovered it was not a painting, a photograph or a scorch, but it could not determine the cause of the image. 

In 2011, Italian scientists attempted to ‘identify the physical and chemical processes capable of generating a colour similar to that of the image on the Shroud’ by using short bursts of ultra-violet light, using lasers. 

They managed to re-create a small section of cloth with some of the properties of the Shroud – at least at a microscopic level – by this method. They concluded that ‘some form of electromagnetic energy – such as a flash of light at short wavelength’ created the image on the Shroud of Turin.  

As ultra-violet lasers were not available to medieval forgers, it opens the possibility that the Shroud is actually Jesus’ burial cloth, the image being created at the point of resurrection. 

Head of the team Dr Paolo Di Lazzaro said: “When one talks about a flash of light being able to colour a piece of linen in the same way as the shroud, discussion inevitably touches on things like miracles and resurrection.

“But as scientists we were concerned only with verifiable scientific processes. We hope our results can open up a philosophical and theological debate, but we will leave the conclusions to the experts, and ultimately to the conscience of individuals.”

The Italian team’s research follows on from the work of other scientists like Dr Ray Rogers who was able to show that the area of the Shroud taken for radiocarbon date was highly contaminated by cotton additions and dye.

All Saints welcomes visitors to see the exhibition to make up their own minds about the Shroud of Turin. Refreshments will be available throughout.