In 1534, when the Poor Clare nuns repaired the burn holes in the Shroud, they sewed the now familiar patches into the most severely burned areas. They also attached a large linen cloth, known as the "Holland Cloth," to the entire back side of the Shroud. This was done to help stabilize the fire damaged relic. For over four hundred years the back side of the Shroud was hidden from view. At the beginning of the 1978 examination, about four inches of the Holland Cloth was unstitched from the Shroud (by a Poor Clare nun) and the two were partially separated for the first time. Here, (l to r), researchers Ray Rogers of Los Alamos Laboratories, Dr. John Jackson, professor at the Air Force Academy and co-founder of STURP, Professor Giovanni Riggi, leader of the Italian scientific team and Professor Luigi Gonella, science advisor to the Archbishop of Turin, take an historic first look at the underside of the Shroud.



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