London, Oct 6 (ANI): Italian scientists claim that the Shroud of Turin is a medieval fake after they reproduced the cloth that is believed to have covered Jesus’ tomb.

The 14 feet shroud bears the reversed image of a crucified man complete with blood seeping out of wounded writs and feet, which many believe to be Christ’s image.

However, the research team of Luigi Garlaschelli, a professor of chemistry at the University of Pavia, claims otherwise.

The Telegraph quoted Garlaschelli as saying: “We have shown that it is possible to reproduce something which has the same characteristics as the shroud.”

The shroud’s age had created much uproar in 1988 when Oxford, Zurich and Arizona laboratories had dated it to being from sometime between 1260 and 1390 and now the Italian debunkers have even questioned its authenticity.

Garlaschelli and his colleagues placed a similar linen sheet over a volunteer and rubbed a pigment with acid content over it. A facemask was used to reproduce the face.

Thereafter, the cloth was dried and heated in an oven, which left a blurry image on it, quite similar to that on the shroud.

Garlaschelli believes the original shroud lost its colouring over time and it was given the blood stained and burnt look later.

The Catholic Church does not proclaim the genuineness of the shroud, but only calls it a holy and powerful memento associated with the Christ.

The shroud, locked at the Turin Cathedral in Italy, last met the public gaze in 2000 and is slated for a public viewing next year now. (ANI)