The Turin Shroud: Optical Research in the Past, Present, and Future

The aim of this work is to summarise the important contribution furnished by Optics in the studies of the TS (Turin Shroud) made in more than a century of researches and tests. In the first section the very peculiar characteristics of the TS are presented and discussed showing that up to now the double body image impressed on it is not yet reproducible. Some body image formation hypotheses are presented and they will be tested by also means of optical means successively discussed. The second and third sections respectively present the most important optical researches done in the past and in the present in reference to the Relic and the fourth section discusses some possible optical studies that should be done on the TS to unveil some obscure points. It is also accounted for the conservation problems that are very important for the body image impressed in the linen Cloth in a very particular way.