In November of 2004 I had an accident and fractured a vertebra. At that particular moment I wanted to start sculpting a PIETA but my recovery took 5 months and I was unable to work, so I decided to look for the most original face of Jesus Christ and his mother Mary in the Internet, and then using these images for the sculpture. When you look for these faces you end up automatically with what are called the “acheiropoeita”, or “images not made by human hands”. They are, the image of the Virgen de Guadalupe on the Tilma of the Indian Juan Diego in Mexico City and the image of the Man on the Shroud of Turin. I then started to study many books written about the Shroud of Turin during my 5 months of rehabilitation. I was rather familiar with the 3D concept because I founded, and for many years worked in an ULTRASOUND CENTER in Curacao, the Netherlands Antilles, and had the opportunity to follow from the beginning of the eighties of last century the development of this particular 3D technique. I also studied the theory of the HOLOGRAPHIC UNIVERSE (Dr. Susskind, Gerard van “t Hooft and Dr. Wheeler), and was very familiar with the concept of Holography. With this expertise in mind, there were two observations that caught my attention.
The first observation was: with the knowledge that there was a cloth-to-body distance information present, it should be possible to CREATE HOLOGRAMS based on this information in the image, after conversion from 2D to 3D.

The second observations that caught my attention were:
1) The image on the Shroud appears more distinct at a distance and fades when viewed at certain angles, particularly as one comes closer to the Shroud. The image is faint, without well-defined boundaries so the eye has no point of reference and it appears simply as variation of the background density. In addition, you’re viewing only a small portion of the entire image up close. In a way, it is out of context and it is only as you back away that it is seen as part of the bigger picture that gives it meaning. This is the classical explanation of this observation. HOWEVER, it is also a HOLOGRAPHIC OBSERVATION. If you stand in front of a large hologram, where thanks to the angle of the lighting you are able to see the image, and you back up or come close or go to the side for that matter, the image becomes very vague or disappears completely.
2) After the fire in the Basilica of San Juan Batista in 1997, the Shroud that had been saved by the Fire Brigade of Turin, was brought to the residence of the Custodian to investigate it for damage that might have been caused by the fire. ALDO GUERRESCHI, a professional photographer, who was very familiar with the Shroud image because he had worked for many years with Giuseppe Enrie in Turin, was asked to photo-document the examination of the Shroud, to determine the state of the sheet and to photograph possible damage to it. He published in 2000 after the International Convention of Sindonological Studies (San Felice Circeo) an article: “The Turin Shroud: from the photo to the three-dimensional”. I quote from this article:
3) “ I therefore had the good fortune to see the Shroud in close up for a whole day. When this sheet was enrolled on a long table (with light coming only from one side of the room where there were windows high up), I realized that everything that I had learned up to that point was worth nothing: the image that I thought I knew was not that one. While photography has the advantage of fixing an image in time and of concentrating it so that whichever angle you look at it from, it will remain the same, with the Shroud that is not the case. Moving around that table (lighting under an angle from one side only !), from a certain angle I saw this image so faded as if to practically disappear, while from others it seemed as if the figure WAS ALMOST OUTSIDE THE SHEET: it was, I repeat, an incredible emotion. At that moment I knew that this image was unique. I approached the face placing my camera at a distance of about 20-30 cm, aimed the camera at the face and saw…………………nothing in my viewfinder”. “And yet “, I said, “ I know it by heart”. I had to beg my friend to point to the position of the eye, because from a distance of 30 cm, I could not see it. I could only see it as I moved away from it”. (Aldo Guerreschi confirmed to me personally these observations during a meeting in Turin in 2008). In Holography the angle of the light is very important to see the hologram, and he wrote me a mail in 2008:

“ Concerning the question that you asked me on the light that illuminated the Shroud that was horizontally laid out on a table. I remember only a light from the windows, at a distance of 3 to 4 meters, higher op the wall, not very strong and only from one side, parallel to the Shroud”. These observations are again having a very strong HOLOGRAPHIC QUALITY.

Checking Shroud for damages after 1997 fire

Checking Shroud for damages after 1997 fire

All these observations pointed to the fact that there is a great probability, that apart from the 3D-distance information in the grey-scale of the image there could also be holographic information hidden in the Shroud. Now, holography is based on a fixed interference pattern of two light waves, the object beam and the reference beam (laser light), and the medium to fixate that pattern is a special holographic film. How there can exist an interference pattern in a linen cloth is basically unexplainable and we are working on finding a solution for these problems. Another factor would be, if there is an interference pattern present, how to activate that. But it makes for nice science to solve all these obstacles!

Just recently I found an article in which theoretical physicist SUE BENSON advanced the idea, that the Shroud image may be more than a negative and a 3D encoding. It may actually be a quantum hologram. Quantum holography, still very theoretical, is getting considerable attention in research laboratories as prestigious as IBM, in search of new ways for storing and retrieving large amounts of information. Benson, in an article in the December/January 2001 issue of Journal of Theoretics, describes macro-level quantum holography that may be applicable to the formation of the Shroud image. Quantum holographs should produce three-dimensional information as well as negativity and may very well offer some quantum event explanation of how the image was formed.

There are not many people, including scientists, that know exactly how holography works and what the consequences would be for the Shroud studies, so in the beginning of 2005 I decided to find a laboratory that could create these holograms of the face and the body on the Shroud and having these holograms it would be much easier to explain the holographic ideas for Shroud studies behind it. I was born in the Netherlands and contacted the Dutch Holographic Laboratory in Eindhoven and had a meeting with Walter Spierings, the owner. After lots of brainstorming we decided to form a team of experts for the six different steps that it would take to produce the holograms and that was achieved in 2005 and resulted in the production of the first hologram of the face in September of 2005.

THE DIFFERENT STEPS INVOLVED IN THE PRODUCTION OF THE HOLOGRAMS:

1) PHOTOGRAPHS Photographs being used were 1st and 2nd generation copies of the Enrie photographs of 1931.

2) DIGITAZATION The photographs were digitized with 7000×10.000 pixels.
3) BARRIE SCHWORTZ EXPERTISE Solution for the image-less area on the right side of the face.
4) 2D to 3D CONVERSION Done by Bernardo Galmarini in Argentina and later perfected by the Dutch Holographic Laboratory.
5) CREATION OF THE MASTER HOLOGRAM Dutch Holographic Laboratory.
6) COPIES OF MASTERS Also other 3D products, lenticulars, anaglyph photographs.

The different steps that are mentioned here you can find in the next chapters, under the different titles mentioned here. So different chapters for Photographs, Digitazation, Conversion etc. etc.

 

The first photographs that were taken by SECONDO PIA in 1898 showed the positive image of a man on the negative glass plates that he used, and also showed that the original image on the Shroud had the properties of a photographic negative. This aroused the interest of the scientific community and from that moment on the Shroud became the most investigated artifact in the world. One of these scientists, in the early part of the 20th century was PAUL VIGNON from the University of Paris, and he spent quite some time investigating the Shroud. One of his observations was, that the image on the Shroud varied inversely with the cloth-to-body distance, which means that the parts of the body that were close to the cloth, were imaged darker than the parts that were further away. The density of the image is proportional to the distance between the body and the cloth and that is caused by the fact that more fibers per square unit are discolored. This translates to 3D information encoding of the image in the grayscale of the photographs of the Shroud. VIGNON could not prove his observations scientifically.

Secondo Pia 1898

Secondo Pia 1898

 

Voigtlander Camera used by Pia

Voigtlander Camera used by Pia

Secondo Pia with camera

Secondo Pia with camera

Photograph face S. Pia

In the fifties of the last century, LEO VALA, a professional photographer in London, did the first 3-dimensional experiments with the image on the Shroud of Turin. Vala employed a process that he called the Transflex Process of front projection. Using two positives of the 1931 Shroud photographs of the head, made by Giuseppe Enrie, and then projecting them on a bed of clay, using two projectors to create the matrix for a sculpture. After that he could sculpt the head. The result was quite stunning and showed the complete face image with lots of detail.

3D study Leo Vala

3D study Leo Vala

Another person that experimented with the 3D qualities of the Shroud image was BARBARA M. SULLIVAN and she published her results in 1973 in the National Review in an article titled: “Reading the Shroud of Turin: Climax Approaching”.
In 1974 a Frenchman, Ing. PAUL GASTINEAU, made a negative relief mold using his own system. This technique consisted in having every single point on the Enrie photograph of the face examined using his own equipment and a concentrated light source; the measurements of the quantity of light which was more or less reflected was transmitted to another part of the instrument , which contained a white-hot point that at the same time engraved the image into a soft material, thus visualizing this hidden information and obtaining a three dimensional Sindonic face.
The next step in the studies of the 3D characteristics was done by Captains JOHN P. JACKSON, a physicist, and ERIC JUMPER, of the United States Air Force Academy. After conducting a series of measurements of image density and comparing the cloth-to-body distance with these intensities on different locations of the Shroud image, they created a graphic record with a microdensitometer, of the relationship of the image intensity with the cloth-to-body distance and came to the conclusion that PAUL VIGNON’S observations were correct.

John Jackson

John Jackson

3D study Jackson & Jumper

3D study Jackson & Jumper

After that they contacted in 1976 in Colorado Springs, PETE SCHUMACHER, who had developed the Interpretation System VP-8 Image Analyzer. This is an analog video processing device which processes monochromatic images (2D images) and converts the various luminance levels into a hypothetical height corresponding to those luminance levels, thus forming a vertical relief.

Pete Schumacher with VP-8 Image Analyser

Pete Schumacher with VP-8 Image Analyser

The primary interest to Shroud of Turin research was the isometric projection display which mapped the brightness variations within the video images. The VP-8 image analysis revealed that a photograph of the Shroud image was “spatially encoded”, i.e., it possessed depth information and resulted in anatomically correct 3D images of the face and the body. So now they had the scientific proof that the observations of Paul Vignon were correct. It is important to note, that they experimented with lots of photographs of faces and other images, including paintings, and that the result always was a distorted image, with flattening of the relief, including the arms within the chest and the nose pressed into the face. They also concluded that there seemingly was no forgery involved, because their 3D images showed absolutely no brush stroke marks, which an artist would have produced.

3D body and face VP-8

3D body and face VP-8

3D body VP-8

3D body VP-8

3D face VP-8

3D face VP-8

The age of the computer studies of the 3D qualities of the Shroud image had started and the challenge was taken up by others. Prof. GIOVANNI TAMBURELLI (CSELT, Turin, Italy) did computer research in the seventies of last century and obtained remarkable 3D images of the face and the body. He also produced an artistic version of the face using special filters (recursive) that eliminated the irregularities in the face (wounds and swellings), and called it “the probable photograph of Jesus Christ”. Prof. NELLO BALOSSINO of Turin must also be mentioned with computer research of the image.

Giovanni Tamburelli 3D face

Giovanni Tamburelli 3D face

The studies done by ALDO GUERRESCHI and Prof. ALAN WHANGER that resulted in the development of the photo relief technique are also worth mentioning. What they did was as follows. By placing one film over and on top of another, one negative and the other positive, and then off-setting the films in relation to each other, they were able to create an effect of alternating light and shadows of the image that gave the impression of relief, in this case pseudo-relief. By offsetting the films to the right or the left or more to the top or the bottom, they created a very impressive, detailed pseudo 3D of the face and the body.

3D face Aldo Guerreschi

3D face Aldo Guerreschi

3D hands Aldo Guerreschi

3D hands Aldo Guerreschi

Alan Whanger

Alan Whanger

In 2000 in Italy, GIULIO FANTI (Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Padua) and Shroud scholar EMANUELA MARINELLI (Collegamento pro Sindone) published the result of a study based on the analysis of the three dimensionality of the body image. “ A Study of the Front and the Back body enveloping based on 3D information “. Their conclusion was, that the man was not enveloped with bandages. The sheet was simply laid on the outstretched body, which was in a position equal to the one taken on after the death on the cross because of the rigor mortis, except for the arms where the rigor mortis was “broken”.

Then in 2005 Dr. PETRUS SOONS, aware of the fact that there was hidden 3D information in the grayscale of the image of the body of Jesus, used this information, and with his team of experts he recreated the body in 3D in the computer, and this information was then used to create Holograms (3D images in LIGHT) of the Shroud including the 3D image of the face and the front and the back of the body. In 2006 these holograms were produced with the original measurements (200 x 100 cm) in the Shroud. They also produced Anaglyph 3D images and 3D Lenticulars for use in conferences and expositions. Lenticulars are basically 3D photographic images covered with a plastic sheet containing thousands of little lenses and they show the 3D remarkably well.

Dr. Petrus Soons in front of Life Size Holograms, Sacramento, USA

Dr. Petrus Soons in front of Life Size Holograms, Sacramento, USA

In 2010 Ray Downing produced for the History Channel a documentary titled: “The Real Face of Jesus”. He showed in this movie the 3D characteristics of the Shroud image and how he could reproduce an artistic version of the face of Jesus based on the 3D information in the grayscale of the image. The reactions on this documentary were very positive. The physicist John Jackson was one of the experts on 3D in this production.

The computer studies confirm the 3-dimensional origin of the Shroud image and show a lot of details that previously had not been seen in the photographs of Enrie and others. We can expect much more from these computer studies in the future with more powerful and faster computers and specially the 3D computer techniques that are evolving also at a great speed.

 

PETRUS SOONS RESPONDS TO GARLASCHELLI: This excellent response was written October 6, 2009 by PETRUS SOONS, noted Shroud researcher who produced the first three-dimensional holographic images of the Shroud. Petrus presented his dramatic results at the Ohio Shroud Conference in August 2008.

In the last few days, a story appeared in the mass media that an Italian Professor of Chemistry at the University of Pavia (Italy), reproduced the image on the Shroud of Turin using materials and methods that were available in the 14th century, concluding that the experiment proves the relic was man-made. Basically, he used a linen cloth in scale 1:1, that was baked at 215 degrees C for three hours and then put it in a washing machine with water only. Then they put a person dirtied with RED OCHRE (IRON OXIDE) on the linen and corrected by hand the colored image. A chalk bas relief was used for the face printing, liquid tempera simulated the blood and sulfuric acid at 1.2% in water added with Aluminium and Cobalt modified the linen surface. An artificial aging was the final treatment before the pigment was washed. The final goal was to show that it was possible to create a fake in the 14th century.

Now there is nothing new to this. In 1979, Walter C. McCrone (1916-2002), an internationally recognized microscopist and the director of the famous McCrone Associates Research Laboratory in Chicago, reported that the Shroud image was due to the application of RED OCHRE, also known as Venetian red (an earth color) a red artist’s pigment, which is a red IRON OXIDE, so probably Prof. Garlaschelli took over this idea from Walter C. McCrone.
This theory was already disproved by the scientific STURP team (and others in the years after that) that concluded the investigations in 1978 on the Shroud of Turin.
Their conclusions were:
1) ADLER reported that the “straw-yellow color” of the body image fibers does not match the color of any of the known forms of ferric iron oxides.
2) Moreover, ADLER reports that there is no correspondence of the body-only images to the concentration of iron oxide since the spectral characteristics of the body-only image are different from those of iron oxide.
3) The color of the fibers, due to iron oxide, is also precluded by the fact that oxidation or reduction converts the yellow fibers of the body-only image to a white color.

4) Only rare particles of iron oxide are noted on the body-only image fibers.
5) Large amounts of iron bound to the cellulose of the Shroud (not iron oxide) and Calcium were both present throughout the Shroud. This is believed due to the ability of linen to bind iron and water by ion association during the retting process (manufacturing process by which linen is immersed in water during fermentation). An ESTIMATED 90% of the iron and calcium exist in this form bound to the cellulose of the linen, AND ONLY A SMALL AMOUNT IS PRESENT AS IRON OXIDE.
6) X-ray studies of the body-only image do not contain enough iron oxide to show up on the X-radiographs.

All of the iron of the Shroud, whether from iron oxide particles or from blood, proved to be 99% percent chemically pure, with no discernable MANGANESE, NICKEL or COBALT. The earth pigment, RED OCHRE (Venetian red), from either medieval or older sources that were being used, was contaminated with manganese, nickel or cobalt GREATER THAN 1 PERCENT!!!

The STURP team employed microprobe Raman spectroscopy, mass spectroscopy, optical and infrared spectroscopy, micro FTIR spectroscopy, pyrolysis mass spectroscopy, X-ray and a variety of microchemical tests on the fibrils, and came to the conclusion that there was NO ochre or other pigments, dyes or stains on the fibrils of the Shroud.

Prof Garlaschelli told Republica he didn’t think his research would convince those who have faith in the Shroud’s authenticity. “They won’t give up” he said. “those who believe in it will continue to believe”.

Well, the reason why serious scientists do not believe Prof. Garlaschelli’s work has been explained.

Prof. Garlaschelli explains the absence of any traces of iron oxide on the original Shroud by stating that the pigment on the original Shroud faded away naturally over the centuries. This is not a statement that you would expect from a serious scientist. The spectroscopic investigations being done in 1978 would even show the slightest traces of iron oxide present on the Shroud and it is a little bit “unscientific” to state that they disappeared “naturally”.

He also mentions the fact that his image shows 3D qualities. Well that is a field that I am very familiar with, having produced with a team of experts the first holograms of the Shroud image. The uniqueness of the Shroud image is, that hidden in the grayscale (image density) is distance information, meaning that the image on the Shroud varies inversely with the cloth-to-body distance. When converting the grayscale from 2D to 3D, the result is an anatomically correct image of a human being, contrary to the result that you will obtain using any other image (photograph, painting etc.), including the one of prof. Garlaschelli, that always will show distortions, like the nose pressed into the face and protruding cheeks etc. etc., which means that this unique distance info is not present.

Another little detail is the fact that on the original Shroud there is no image under the bloodstains, proving the fact that there were two image formation processes. Direct contact for the blood proper and another image formation process for the image itself. Prof. Garlaschelli added the “blood” (liquid tempera) later on top of the image that he had created. Under Ultra-Violet fluorescence photography (not known of course in the 14th century), the blood on the Shroud shows a serum separation, visible as a lighter ring around a darker center, which is typical of post-mortem wound exudate. This is not visible with the naked eye. The proposed artist from the 14th century could of course not have known this fact, so he could not create it either.

 

1.MONOCHROMATIC COLORATION . The image is portrayed in variable diffuse tones of a pale brownish-yellow color (consistent with a puce color, sepia toned). The intensity of the image shows what we call the half-tone effect and is caused by the amount of discolored fibers per square unit. The image also appears more distinct at a distance and fades out when viewed at different angles, particularly as one comes close to the Shroud.

2.The image displays the light and dark characteristics that you normally observe in a PHOTOGRAPHIC NEGATIVE and that was discovered in 1898 when Secondo Pia made the first photographs of the Shroud. After developing his negative glass plates, he found to his surprise that they showed a positive image of the Man on the Shroud. This light/dark and left/right reversal has not been seen in Art before the discovery of photography in the 19th century.

Photographic negative Shroud

Photographic negative Shroud

Photographic positive Shroud

Photographic positive Shroud

Photographic positive and negative facePhotographic positive and negative face

 

3. SUPERFICIALITY. The image is present only on the top two or three fibers of the threads. These fibers are hollow, and the lumen is called medulla and shows no discoloration, and the individual fibers are all about the same color (monochromatic). It is important to note that these individual fibers of the threads are 10 to 20 times thinner than a human hair (14-8 micrometer for every fiber = 0.25-0.3 mm). Every yarn is composed of 70-120 linen fibers each 0.25-0.3 mm. According to Kevin Moran, on the sides of the fibers the image is like cut with a knife, visible with precision microscopy, so no image on the backside of the fibers.

Shroud weave with image

Shroud weave with image

Individual fibers

Individual fibers

4.NO DIRECCIONALITY. In a photograph one can observe a directionality, which means that you can see from which direction the light came that caused the shadows and light areas. The image on the Shroud does not show this characteristic and it seems that the image was formed straight up- and down, which is called “COLLIMATED”. There is also an absence of brushstrokes.

5.X-RAY PROPERTIES. While studying the image on the ENRIE photographs, Prof Alan Whanger observed that in the face the sinuses were visible and also part of the teeth. In the image of the hands, the metacarpalia are visible like on an X-Ray photograph. It seems that part of the “energy” that caused the image had long wavelength X-Ray properties.

 

X -ray properties face

X -ray properties face

X- ray properties hands

X- ray properties hands

6.NO OUTLINES. The image does not show any outlines and fades away in the surrounding Shroud. Artists normally use outlines when drawing an image of a person. In a photograph the outlines are also clearly visible.

Dorsal view

Dorsal view

 Ventral view

Ventral view

Ventral view (ANAGLYPH 3D GLASSES)

Ventral view (ANAGLYPH 3D GLASSES)

 

7.ANATOMICALLY CORRECT. The image of the Man on the Shroud is anatomically correct. There is foreshortening of the legs caused by the bending of the two legs. If the image formation was collimated, then that makes sense of course. The fact of the anatomical correctness excludes a process of image-formation by direct contact.

8. IMAGELESS AREAS. Research has shown that there is no underlying image present under the blood spots, showing that the blood was present prior to the formation of the body-image. Another part where there is no image present is on the sides of the face. Botanist Avinoam Danin found there the presence of flowers (Anthemis) and concluded that these flowers had blocked the image formation of the underlying anatomical structure. So it strongly suggests that the “radiation” (?) did not penetrate solid objects like the blood, flowers and the solid oval object under the beard.

Imageless areas sides of face

Imageless areas sides of face

9. STABILITY. The image on the fibers shows a relative stability when subjected to heat, water and some chemicals.

10. SERUM RETRACTION RING. Under Ultra-Violet Fluorescent Photography, almost all the blood (scientific research has proven that it is human blood) shows a serum retraction ring of albumin around the solid parts of the blood, typical for post-mortem blood. This phenomenon is not visible with the naked eye and was unknown until about 100 years ago. Also, there is no fluorescence in the image areas, but the scorch areas, (caused by the 1532 Chambery fire), do show fluorescence.

Bloodspot

Bloodspot

Blood under microscope

Blood under microscope

Blood colored by UV light

         Blood colored by UV light

11. CHEMICAL PROCESS. When the image fibers were subjected to scientific testing, the resulting findings were, that the image was caused by a chemical process of oxidation, dehydration and conjugation of the polysaccharide component of the cellulose of the flax fibers. This is the same process that occurs in the normal aging of linen fibers, but is extreme in the image, compared with the fibers in the non-image areas.

12. 3D INFORMATION. An encoding of 3D information is present in the grayscale of the image which was shown in 1977 by Jackson & Jumper with the VP8 Image Analyzer. This 3D information was not present in photos and paintings, all of which showed distortion with flattening of the relief, including the arms within the abdomen and the nose pressed in the face.
The image on the Shroud varies inversely with the cloth-to-body-distance. This means that the darker the image the closer this part of the body was to the Shroud and the lighter the image the further away these parts of the body were from the Shroud when the image-processing occurred. This means that every pixel in the gray-scale of the Shroud-image carries a cloth-to-body-distance relationship. This particular quality was used to create the Holograms of the Shroud-image.

Hands in 3D in VP8 Image Analyzer

Hands in 3D in VP8 Image Analyzer

13. ALDO GUERRESCHI, a professional photographer, in April 1997 following the dramatic fire in the Turin Cathedral, was asked to document the following examination of the Shroud. He observed the following: “ Moving around the table, with the Shroud unrolled horizontally, I saw from a certain angle this image so faded as if to practically disappear, While from other angles it seemed as if the figure was almost outside the sheet “. There was a light source coming from one side from high windows. This is a very holographic observation.

After fire 1997

After fire 1997

14. LORRE and LYN (1978 STURP) analyzed the back image of the Shroud with IBM 360/65 and reported a purely random, unexplainable distribution of straight- line forms with no directionality. They also analyzed the scourge marks by creating a type of relief gradient using their IBM 360/65. Their research suggests that there were two directions, suggesting two different Roman soldiers, on opposite sides of the victim (or one soldier changing from one side to the other).
15. No ADHAESION of the fibers in the image and no IMPREGNATION in the fibers.

There have been several attempts to reproduce the image on the Shroud. It is clear, that the results of the processes involved should show ALL the 14 before mentioned characteristics of the Shroud image, not just 3, 7 or 9 of these image qualities. Every technique used to reproduce this image and that does not produce all these characteristics, is a different process then the image-formation process that produced the image on the Shroud itself. Recently there was another attempt by Prof. Garlaschelli in Italy to show that with existing techniques in the 11th and 12th century the image could have been produced. Prof. Garlaschelli cannot answer questions on several of the characteristics that we mentioned before. (see next article for my response to Garlaschelli in 2002).

Click to see article for my response to Garlaschelli in 2002

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The Shroud of Turin is a piece of linen 442.5 cm (441.5 cm) long and 113 cm (113.7 cm) wide. These are the measurements of this linen after the restoration of 2002 and done by Bruno Barberis and Gian Maria Zaccone. The fabric is hand-woven and handspun in a herringbone pattern and bears different images. The most notable are the front and back images of a crucified man, head to head, with the feet of both images facing to the outside of the cloth. Further, the image has a number of burn holes, as well of water-stains. The burn holes are on the side of the body image and result from a fire in 1532 in Chambery in the south of France. Other burn marks include the so-called poker holes for which no dating is known.

Positive and negative image of the Shroud

Positive and negative image of the Shroud

Both a front and a back image are present because the crucified man was laid out on one end of the 4 meter linen sheet. The opposite end of the Shroud was then doubled over the top of the head, over the face and down to the front of the body.

Positive image of the Shroud

Positive image of the Shroud

The body is naked, bearded and long-haired. The face has a mask-like appearance with the eyes representing an owl-eyed look. In the frontal view the forehead area shows blood in the form of a reverse “figure-3” pattern, with small spots of blood on the left and right of the forehead and in the hair, all representing bleeding from the crown of thorns. The back and top of the head also show bloodspots, as a result of the sharp thorns. The hair in the frontal image is forward, covering the ears. The head is bent forward, and slightly turned to the anatomical right side. The eyebrows and the area below the right eye and the bridge of the nose appear to be swollen. There is a line in the middle of the bridge of the nose that is consistent with a bone/cartilage separation. This does not have the aspect of a fracture. The moustache and beard are visible and colored due to the fluid from the lung edema that came out of the nose and mouth, after the body was lowered from the cross and put in a horizontal position.

Negative image of the face

Negative image of the face

The arms show directional blood flows consistent with the position they had during the crucifixion. The hands are crossed just below the umbilicus at the hip level with the left hand over the right one. Both thumbs are missing,, and a wrist wound is visible on the right side, obviously due to a nail wound. There is a raising of the chest consistent with rigor mortis. On the right side of the thorax there is a large area of blood, with on the top a wound in the shape of a Roman spear (called the hasta), in the region of the sixth intercostals place, representing the blood flow from the spear wound.
This continues to the middle-back side, and shows the blood flow that went to the back after the body was put in a horizontal position.

Negative image of the body

Negative image of the body

The back, buttocks, legs, chest and abdomen, show evidence of scourge marks, many of them depicted as dumb-bell shaped images, caused by the Roman Flagrum Taxulatum. The shape of the buttocks is round and not flat, and this is also an indication of rigor mortis. The right shoulder is lower than the left and might be a sign of a luxation of the shoulder. Images in the region of the left scapula and right shoulder area suggest abrasions, caused by the carrying of the vertical beam of the cross, the patibulum. There is also a slight bulging of the abdomen. The buttocks are a-symmetrical, with the right lower than the left. The legs are close together. There is a large abrasion and contusion on the left knee region. The calves show a natural roundness. The bare feet reveal the right sole and part of the left foot in the back image, covered with dirt, and also blood coming from the nail wound. The left foot is crossed over the right foot. The left leg id bended more than the right leg.

 

Dr.Petrus Soons M.D.

Dr.Petrus Soons M.D.

Dr Petrus Soons was born in the Netherlands and rest in peace on November 17, 2021. He studied Medicine at the University of Utrecht and the Erasmus University in Rotterdam where he graduated as a medical doctor in 1970.
He worked as a General Practitioner in the Netherlands and Curacao, the Netherlands Antilles, and was the Founder and Director of an Ultrasound Clinic in Curacao. He is now retired and since 2001 he lives with his wife Dalys in Volcan, Panama.
Since 2002 he works also as a sculptor in tropical woods and that resulted in 2009 in a sculpture of the Body of Christ based on the 3D studies that he did.
In the year 2004 he began his studies of the Shroud of Turin. He concluded that it was possible to create holograms based on the 3D information embedded in the image. To achieve this objective, he formed a team of 3D experts.
Under his guidance the team performed the following tasks:

  • Digitized first generation Shroud photographs taken by Giuseppe Enrie in 1931.
  • Enhanced the digitized images to improve details.
  • Translated the enhanced images “ grayscale data into depth data”, so, a conversion
    from 2D to 3D.
  • Generated a sequence of up to 625 images of each enhanced image.
  • Combined these images with a Holoprinter.
  • Produced life-size Holograms (3D images in Light) of the image on the Shroud.

Dr. Soons in front of Holograms 

Dr. Soons in front of Holograms 

  • Also producing Anaglyph 3D and Lenticular 3D images.

After the team produced the life-size Holograms in 2005 and 2006, he studied them intensively. His studies confirmed many of the previous findings but also revealed some surprises and the discovery of heretofore unknown details.
In November of 2006 he was granted an audience by the Custodian of the Shroud, Cardenal Severino Poletto. He showed the Holograms that his team had produced of the front and the back of the body and also the face to the Cardenal and a group of esteemed Italian Shroud scientists.

Audience with Cardenal Severino Poletto, Turin 2007

Audience with Cardenal Severino Poletto, Turin 2007

 

Holograms in Museo della Sindone, Turin

Holograms in Museo della Sindone, Turin

This led to the decision of Cardenal Severino Poletto to place these Holograms as a permanent exhibition in the MUSEO della SINDONE in Turin.
He was also introduced to Don Giuseppe Ghiberti who was in charge of the daily affairs of the Shroud and he brought Dr. Soons in contact with Father Hector Guerra of The Legionaries of Christ.

Father Héctor Guerra  L.C., RIP

Father Héctor Guerra  L.C., RIP

Father Guerra was responsible for creating a series of permanent expositions of the Shroud and he had established already two expositions in:

  • The Ateneo Pontifico Regina Apostolorum in Rome, Italy and in the
  • Pontifical Institute Notre Dame in Jerusalem, Israel.

Dr. Soons donated two sets of Holograms to these expositions.
The close cooperation of Dr. Soons and his sponsor group with Father Hector Guerra resulted in a series of new expositions:

  • Sacramento, USA, inaugurated on February 26, 2010.
  • Cathedral in Den Bosch the Netherlands.
  • Krakow, Poland a permanent exposition
  • Traveling expositions in Brasil and Portugal.
  • Mexico City, Anahuac University.
  • Monterrey, Mexico.
  • Santiago de Chile.
  • Cancun, Mexico.

Dr. Soons and Father Guerra cooperated closely until the untimely death of Father Hector Guerra on december 11, 2015 and then Dr. Soons organized very successful expositions in Panama in 2013 and in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula in Honduras in 2016.
As a sculptor he produced many life-size sculptures including a Pieta and Maria with child.
In 2009 he finished an exact copy of the body of Jesus Christ, based on the measurements on the Shroud and the 3D studies that he had conducted. These studies put him in a unique position to reproduce all the anatomical details and the exact position of the body in 3D.

Sculpture Shroud in Exhibition, Panama

Sculpture Shroud in Exhibition, Panama

His studies and scientific investigations of the holographic images with the new discoveries have been presented the last couple of years in the USA, Israel, Latin America and Europe.
He has given conferences in:

  • Ateneo Pontifico Regina Apostolorum in Rome several times and also in the
    presence of a large group of bishops and Cardenal RE.
  • Pontifical Institute Notre Dame in Jerusalem, Israel.
  • Columbus Ohio, USA, in 2008, During the scientific Shroud Conference.
  • Many times in Mexico D.F. Cuernavaca, Vera Cruz, Cancun, and participated in an
    interview with Roberto O’Farrill in his famous TV program “El Pulso de la Fe”.
  • Missouri Botanical Garden together with Avinoam Danin, Botanist.
  • Many conferences in schools, churches in Latin America and Europe.
  • St. Louis, USA together with Pete Schumacher, presenting research of the HALO.

He participated in the following documentaries about the Shroud:

  • ”THE FABRIC of TIME” by Grizzly Adams, that won the price of “Excellence in
    Religion” in the USA in 2008.
  • “THE CASE for CHRIST’S RESURRECTION” by Grizzly Adams (2006)
  • “THE SHROUD OF TURIN” by Discovery Chanel on Chanel 5 in Europe (2008).
  • ”HE IS THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD, The Shroud of Turin”, by the Net for
    God in France in 2009.

Dr. Soons is also a member of the Shroud Science Group (SSG) and is continuing with his scientific investigations of the Shroud and giving conferences in different countries.

Dr. Soons and Deacon Pete Schümacher

Dr. Soons and Deacon Pete Schümacher