Turin Shroud goes on view

Three-million people are expected to visit Turin Cathedral in northern Italy during the next two months, to see the Turin Shroud -- the cloth which many believe covered the body of Jesus after his crucifixion.

The shroud has not been displayed in public in Turin for twenty years.

It is encased in an airtight glass casket, and one of the first pilgrims to view it was the fireman who rescued it from a blaze in the cathedral a year ago.

There's continuing controversy over the shroud, which some scientists say dates only from the Middle Ages.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service