Pen-Slinger

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Images of Turin

There is more to Turin than the shroud, or the odd papal visit, as Blandine and I found out staggering around the old part of the city, which goes by the magical name Aurora. Full of grand old palaces, cobbled streets, charming 18^th and 19^th century townhouses and baroque churches. Here, in no particular order, are the things that caught my attention. None of the monuments and famous landmarks, though. You can find those in any tourist website, so I don’t see the point of shoving them in my blog.

Blandine's Farm - 39

Chez Blandine - 39

Shrouded in Turin

Our main purpose of coming to Turin was not to see the pope (see yesterday’s post), but to see the Shroud of Turin. As you might know, this was the cloth supposedly used to cover Jesus when he was taken down from the cross, although the church has not definitively made up its mind about it. It has a colorful history of its own, which you can read all about in Wikipedia. Like many, I’m fascinated by this cloth. I've been fascinated by it ever since I read about it, many years ago, in Holger Kersten's book 'Jesus Lived in India'. I’d been longing to see it a long time. The trouble is, it is kept hidden from public view in the Cathedral of Turin (Duomo Di Torino). Luckily, it is shown to the public for a few weeks once every five years, and 2016 was one of those years.

The way you see the shroud is that you reserve a slot on the Shroud of Turin Website. Then you pop over to Turin on the appointed day and head for the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist (Cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista), where it is kept on display.

This is the cathedral.

This is the nice man at the gate who tells you the entry for viewing the shroud is not here, but at the back.

Tagging behind the Pope around Turin

Last weekend, Blandine and I popped over to Turin to check out the Shroud of Turin, currently on display in that city. Guess what, the pope had the same idea! Blandine was overjoyed. A chance to see the pope at last! She's a big fan.

We landed up on Sunday, a day in advance, in order to take a dekko at his Holiness (our reserved slot to see the shroud was on Monday – more about that in another post).

Turin seemed abuzz with excitement at the impending arrival of the pope. The faithful were gathered at all the holy spots, setting things up for the visit. The police were setting up barricades and whatnot. There were posters like this plastered all over the place…

Ici, on Parle Française - 23

This comic strip is specially created for Alliance Française de Bangalore, for use in their classrooms and website. Reproduced here by special arrangement.