SINDON: The Shroud of Turin
The Shroud of Turin

Visit Turin

The cathedral, the chapel, the palace, and the square

The Shroud itself is not on view. It lies flat in a sealed case in the cathedral and has not been shown since 2015. The places around it can be visited, and all of them are within two hundred meters of each other at the northern edge of the old city.

Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist

Turin's cathedral, built 1491 to 1498 in the Renaissance style, the city's one major Renaissance church. The Shroud is kept in the left transept, in a sealed case that is not opened. A copy of the cloth at full size hangs nearby so that visitors can see what the image looks like at a distance. The cathedral is open daily and free. History

The Chapel of the Holy Shroud

Guarino Guarini's chapel, 1668 to 1694, rises between the cathedral and the Royal Palace, with a dome of interlocking arches that is one of the masterpieces of Baroque architecture. The Shroud was kept here from 1694 until the chapel's restoration began in the 1990s. On the night of 11 April 1997 fire gutted it; the cloth had already been moved to the cathedral and a fireman carried its casket out. The chapel reopened on 27 September 2018 after twenty-one years of restoration and is now entered through the Royal Museums. Fire 1997

The Royal Palace

The Palazzo Reale, the Savoy residence from the seventeenth century and crown property until 1946, now part of the Musei Reali di Torino. The 1978 examination took place in the Hall of Visiting Princes on the first floor. The palace is open to visitors. The Royal Museums also include the Royal Armory, the Royal Library (which holds Leonardo's self-portrait), and the Galleria Sabauda. Chronology

Piazza Castello

The square in front of the palace, with the Palazzo Madama in its center. The Shroud was shown here in 1578 to a crowd of about forty thousand on its arrival in Turin. The Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux with their horses, stand at the palace gate. In 2025 a digital full-size reproduction of the cloth was exhibited here for the Jubilee. History

The Museum of the Shroud

The Museo della Sindone, run by the Confraternity of the Holy Shroud, in the crypt of the church of the Santissimo Sudario on Via San Domenico, about ten minutes' walk from the cathedral. It holds Secondo Pia's 1898 camera, the silver-covered casket in which the cloth was kept until 1998, and the history of the cloth's photographs, copies and study. Check hours and admission before visiting. This is the place to see the physical history of the cloth. Museo

Further afield

  • Chambéry, France. The Sainte-Chapelle of the ducal castle, where the Shroud was kept from 1502 and nearly destroyed in 1532. About two hours by road.
  • Lirey, France. A village in Champagne, near Troyes. The medieval collegiate church is gone; a later church and a plaque mark the site. The pilgrim badge from Lirey is in the Musée de Cluny in Paris.
  • Montevergine, Italy. The Benedictine abbey near Avellino where the cloth was hidden from 1939 to 1946.
  • Oviedo, Spain. The cathedral's Cámara Santa holds the Sudarium, the cloth venerated as the face cloth of John 20:7.

Expositions

There is no fixed schedule. Expositions have been held at the custodians' discretion: 1898, 1931, 1933, 1978, 1998, 2000, 2010, 2015, with television and online showings in 1973, 2013 and 2020. Announcements come from the Archdiocese of Turin at sindone.org. Chronology

Last checked 2026-10-20.

Plates

The marble front of Turin Cathedral with the dome of the Chapel of the Holy Shroud rising behind it.
The Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist, Turin, with the chapel dome behind.Zairon, 2020, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.
The nave of Turin Cathedral, looking toward the altar.
The nave of the cathedral. The Shroud lies in the left transept, under the royal tribune.TorinoDoc, 2023, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.
The spire and dome of the Chapel of the Holy Shroud seen from the cathedral square.
The dome of the Chapel of the Holy Shroud, restored, from Piazza San Giovanni.Marie-Lan Tay Pamart, May 2026, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 4.0.
Looking up into the restored dome of the Guarini chapel: tiers of stacked arches rising to a star.
Inside the dome of the Guarini chapel, after the restoration completed in 2018.Marie-Lan Tay Pamart, May 2026, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 4.0.
The Shroud’s sealed case in the cathedral, a long low box under a photographic copy of the cloth.
Where it is now: the sealed case under the royal tribune, with a photographic copy above it.Zairon, 2020, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.
The front of the Royal Palace of Turin at night, lit from below, across the square.
The Royal Palace of Turin at night. The examination took place in a hall on the first floor.Zairon, 2020, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.
Piazza Castello, Turin, in 1973, with parked cars and Palazzo Madama.
Piazza Castello in 1973, five years before the examination.Fortepan, 1973, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0.
The entrance of the Museum of the Shroud, Turin.
The Museum of the Shroud, Via San Domenico.Marco Plassio, 2010, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0.