Museum offers an immersive, evidence-based experience of the Shroud of Turin

Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, the chancery office of the Diocese of Orange, has welcomed a new interactive museum: “The Shroud of Turin: An Immersive Experience”. Located on the second floor of the campus’ Richard H. Pickup Cultural Center, the museum seeks to introduce visitors to the historic person Jesus of Nazareth. It offers visitors a better understanding of Christ’s crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection by making use of the Shroud of Turin, which many believe to be the burial cloth of Christ.

The museum includes three interactive theaters, which introduce visitors to the historic Jesus and the Shroud, exhibits providing a detailed look at Christ’s sufferings and death, artwork and iconography of Christ, and presentations of the history and studies of the Shroud. While the museum seeks to persuade visitors that there is an abundance of evidence to demonstrate that the Shroud is authentic, more fundamentally, its purpose is to help those who come grow in their relationship with Christ and to accept His claims as to who He is.

Orange Auxiliary Bishop Timothy Freyer, who played a leading role in the effort to bring the museum to the Christ Cathedral grounds, explained, “I hope those who visit will come to believe more fully that Christ is truly risen, and that we no longer need to live in fear but in love.”

Developed by Othonia

Content for the 10,000 square foot, $5 million museum was developed by Othonia, a team of Shroud specialists. It will be open through at least 2030. Its founders hope it will be a prototype for Shroud museums in other parts of the country and throughout the world.

“The museum,” explains Nora Creech, who is on the leadership team of Othonia, “takes people on a journey to learn more about Jesus. We want them to look at the Shroud, and see what it tells us about Him.”

There has long been a debate as to the authenticity of the Shroud, Creech noted, “but the preponderance of evidence supports that it is. I don’t think we’ll ever have definitive proof; ultimately, it is a matter of faith.”

While the Shroud museum was created by Catholics and is housed on a Catholic chancery campus, Creech noted that the Shroud has drawn increasing attention in the non-Catholic Christian world, and specifically pointed to Dr. Jeremiah Johnston, who has promoted the Shroud in a variety of venues, including on the Tucker Carlson podcast. Creech said, “We want to overcome the perspective that it is just a ‘Catholic thing’. We believe it is the burial cloth of Christ, which is specifically mentioned in the Gospels.” (“Having bought a linen cloth, [Joseph of Arimathea] took [Jesus] down, wrapped him in the linen cloth and laid him in a tomb that had been hewn out of rock.”— Mk 15:46)

The museum is designed for people of all degrees of faith, she continued, and not only has a focus on Christ’s suffering and death, but His resurrection, “the foundation of the Christian church.”

Jason Pearson of FiveHive Studios is a Catholic convert who worked with Othonia to design the museum. His company offers special effects and animation services; the 81 Hollywood films he has worked on include Mel Gibson’s 2004 “The Passion of the Christ.” For the past seven years, he has also been a volunteer guide at the Shroud Center of Southern California, which is housed in the Santiago Retreat Center, also within the Diocese of Orange.

He noted that the three theater rooms use advanced technology that was incorporated in such educational exhibits as “Van Gogh Exhibition: The Immersive Experience” and the “Immersive King Tut.” The three theaters are at the beginning of the tour, and feature 360-projection, which is aimed at taking the viewer back to the historical scenes presented. The first theater introduces the Person of Christ through a dozen stories related in the Scripture, each picked to demonstrate the supernatural, such as the Transfiguration or Jesus walking on water. The second is a presentation of the science of the Shroud, and the third focuses on the resurrection of Christ, posing the question: Who do you believe the Man on the Shroud is?

“We’re doing things that have never been done before,” Pearson said. “The visitor sees the projection on the four walls surrounding him and on the floor, and is sitting in a room surrounded by sound; it’s like taking him back to the streets of Jerusalem in the first century and being part of the stories we relate.”

Exhibit area

The three theater rooms exit into an exhibit area. Exhibits include reproductions of the flagellum, or whip, used on Christ, as well as how His crown of thorns might have looked (styled like a helmet or cap, rather than a crown). There is a model of how Christ’s tomb might have looked, two rooms with an entry area, as well as where the body would have been laid.

Visitors are introduced to the Sudarium of Oviedo, the blood-stained facial burial cloth of Christ, which is kept in a cathedral in Spain, and how it relates to the Shroud.

Visitors can also see an exhibit showing the different markings on the Shroud which have come over the centuries, such as water stains and charred areas and burn holes, the result of a 1532 fire in Chambéry, France. There is an iconography exhibit demonstrating how the face of Christ has been portrayed through the centuries, demonstrating how remarkably similar it is to the face on the Shroud.

An AI exhibit introduces visitors to Secondo Pia (1855-1941), an Italian photographer who, while photographing the Shroud in 1898, discovered that the negative image of the Shroud gave a clearer image of the Man on the Shroud than the positive. Visitors can also “meet” Fr. Robert Spitzer, a Jesuit who has extensively studied the Shroud and frequently speaks on the compatibility of science and faith, who, in two kiosks, answers common questions visitors have about the Shroud. Fr. Spitzer’s office is located at Christ Cathedral, and he was on hand for the opening of the Shroud museum.

“I think the museum strikes a good balance between the science of the Shroud and the devotional aspect of coming to know Christ,” Fr. Spitzer said. “We expect it will have a positive impact on listeners, get their imaginations going, and demonstrate that the preponderance of evidence suggests the Shroud is authentic.”

“It’s also a great tool for evangelization,” he adds, “helping visitors to come to understand who Jesus Christ is.”

The tour concludes with a reflection room, which includes a full-size, backlit Shroud replica. It also features a life-size bronze sculpture by Italian artist Luigi Enzo Mattei depicting Jesus lying on His back the moment before His resurrection. It is a space, Creech said, “which gives visitors the opportunity to ponder the question: Who is the Man on the Shroud?”

Tickets are $10-20, children under 10 not admitted. Purchase tickets at www.theshroudexperience.com. School and group discounts are available.

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