THE GENOA MANDYLION, an alledged miraculously imprinted image of the face of Christ, has been dated to the thirteenth century by radiocarbon dating:

Unknotting a tangled tale of towels (The Art Newspaper)
Scientific tests have established that an icon, revered as an imprint of Christ�s face, is 13th century


By Martin Bailey

Tests on a painting, called the Mandylion, revered as a miraculous imprinted image of Christ, have revealed it to have been made in the 13th century. There are several early versions of the image, but the one in Genoa is the first to have been subjected to a thorough scientific examination. The results are being presented at an exhibition (until 18 July) in the city�s Museo Diocesano as part of the European Capital of Culture celebrations. Appropriately, the show is presented as a journey, both spiritual and scientific�since the venerated icon has links with Syria, Turkey, Sinai and Armenia.

The Mandylion is traditionally believed to be a representation of the face of Jesus miraculously transferred to a towel (from the Arabic word mandil, �small cloth�), but is not to be confused with the cloth, which also bears His likeness, with which Veronica wiped Christ�s face as He went to Calvary.

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The church recently agreed to a small sample of wood being removed from the poplar panel, for carbon dating at the University of Lecce. The results show that there is a 90% probability that the panel on which the painted linen image is fixed dates from between 1240-90.

Other objects associated with the Genoa Mandylion were also examined. Most important is the magnificent gilded silver frame, which was made in Constantinople in the mid-14th century. Enclosing the original frame are two later cases made in Italy, one in 1601 and the other in 1702.

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