International Workshop on the Scientific approach to the Acheiropoietos Images

Descrizione

The International Workshop on the Scientific approach to the Acheiropoietos Images (IWSAI) was held at the ENEA Research Centre of Frascati, Italy, May 4 through May 6, 2010.

The IWSAI was aimed at promoting a scientific discussion on physical, chemical, biological, forensic and historical aspects of the Turin Shroud, the Tilma of Guadalupe and the Veil of Manoppello, in order to gain a deeper insight into these controversial images. They are controversial, indeed, mainly because, according to tradition, they are acheiropoietos images, that is, "not made by hands" and Science is still not able to fully explain their origin.

There were forty-three presentations by thirty-five speakers from Austria, Canada, Denmark, England, France, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Spain and USA. Forty papers were submitted for publication and thirty-five were accepted for publication in this volume after a rigorous peer-review process. The selected papers published in this Proceedings volume offer a multidisciplinary approach to the acheiropoietos images: in fact they face almost all the relevant topics, from the formation of the images to the Shroud dating; from image processing to textile properties; from archaeology and history to iconography; from philosophy to forensic medicine.

The IWSAI has been a peculiar (if not unique) event, from many points of view. It was the first time that the Turin Shroud, the Tilma of Guadalupe, and the Veil of Manoppello were discussed together, in an unprecedented attempt at cross-fertilization of the up-to-date knowledge of them. It was the first time that a top-level Research Centre was the venue of a congress concerned with acheiropoietos images. It was the first time that a genuine fiber of the Shroud was observed and analyzed through the microscope, in person, directly in front of the audience of the Workshop. And it is the first time as well that a Proceedings volume devoted to acheiropoietos images contains only peer-reviewed papers.

Some of the topics include:
- Badde’s work on Manoppello,
- the VUV mechanisms of linen coloration,
- the comparison between the Garlaschelli’s copy and the Shroud,
- the “mind-matter continuum”,
- the Campanella’s method to date cellulosic textiles,
- new analyses of the radiocarbon data,
- a list of the old copies that were in contact to the Shroud,
- the new LIST paper,
- the Sudarium of Oviedo