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Turin Shroud 3D glasses condemned by church

Tourists visiting the Turin Shroud next month will get the chance to view the burial cloth in 3-D, revealing details invisible to the naked eye.

The glasses, which will be sold to pilgrims for £1.80 a pair when the shroud goes on display for six weeks after Easter, will allow visitors to see wounds on the figure of the man on the linen cloth.

The Holy Shroud is held by many Christians to be the cloth that Jesus Christ was buried in, but others believe it is a forgery created in Medieval times.

Now an estimated two million visitors will get the chance to see it for themselves.

However, church authorities have condemned plans to sell 3-D glasses to pilgrims, the Times reports.
The commission in charge of the shroud said in a statement that "the sale of special glasses for the three dimensional viewing of details on the shroud" was "an exclusively commercial initiative" that it did not support or promote in any way.

It said that it had already engaged "experts in illumination" to ensure that pilgrims had "the best view possible" of the cloth and the image imprinted on it, which "cannot be improved with artificial aids".
The glasses will be sold by the Salesian religious from its Turin bookshop.

Father Moreno Filipetto, of the Salesians, told the Times that this was "not commercialisation".
On April 10 the shroud will go on display for the first time in 10 years at Turin Cathedral.

The cloth is normally only displayed every 25 years.
Visitors will be allowed three minutes each in front of the cloth.
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)