International Syndonological Centre in Turin

https://doi.org/10.12797/9788381388368.I.9.2

(Italian: Centro Internazionale di studi sulla Sindone). Its predecessor was the association Cultores Sanctae Sindonis, founded in 1937 by the Archbishop of Turin, Cardinal Maurilio Fossati, on the initiative of the →Confraternity of the Holy Shroud to spread knowledge about the Turin Shroud.

In 1959 it was transformed into the International Syndonological Centre, a facility dedicated to the scientific study of the Shroud and the promotion of knowledge of the linen and the findings associated with it. The Centre brings together researchers from all over the world, representing various sciences: physics, chemistry, biology, botany, medicine, materials science, commodity science, history, art history, biblical studies and theology. Hence, in order to take all these perspectives into account, syndonology, a discipline dedicated to the study of the Shroud and similar objects, was established. The Centre operates a library, archive and museum, organises scientific congresses and publishes a specialised journal, Sindon. It is also directly involved in the preparation and handling of public exhibitions of the Shroud. Scientists affiliated to the Centre are authors of many (also scientific) books and publications devoted to the Shroud. Until now, the only Pole who officially belonged to the ISC was Dr →Stanisław Waliszewski, who died in 2011. The main decision-making body for the Centre is the Executive Council of the Confraternity of the Holy Shroud, which in 2017 elected Prof. Gian Maria Zaccone as director of the ISC.