The exhibition 'The Mystery Man' opens on November 19 at San Pedro

The international exhibition 'The Mystery Man' will open its doors in Huelva on Friday, November 19 and will remain visitable until February 2027 at the Parroquia Mayor de San Pedro. The exhibition, promoted by Óptima Cultura, offers a journey through history, art, science and spirituality around the figure represented in the Shroud of Turin.

The installation will occupy about 155 square metres of the church and is organised into several spaces. The tour begins with an informative presentation of the history of the cloth and includes a full-scale facsimile, backlit and accompanied by its photographic negative, as well as panels on the medical, forensic and scientific studies carried out over time. Technology will play an important role, with immersive virtual reality resources that will bring the visitor closer to some of the episodes of the Passion. The proposal is completed with references to the wooden cross and the crown of thorns and with works from the heritage of the parish itself, such as the Misterio del Sagrado Descendimiento, María Santísima de la Resignación and the Cristo del Perdón, an anonymous piece dated around 1500. The climax will be the hyperrealistic anatomical reconstruction of the so-called Man of the Shroud, a work by the artist Álvaro Blanco after more than fifteen years of research. The figure is 1.78 metres tall, weighs approximately 75 kilos and is made with silicone, latex and human hair implanted by hand.

According to the data provided by the organisation, the exhibition has been to 15 venues on three continents, with cities such as Salamanca, Cádiz, Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, Miami and Luanda, and has exceeded 500,000 visits. Huelva will be the sixteenth venue. The event will also serve to close the events of the XXV Canonical Anniversary of the Hermandad de la Santa Cruz. Its hermano mayor, Rafael Millán, has stated that the brotherhood was looking for «a formative and apostolic action» to close the programme. The councillor for Culture and Archaeological Heritage, Nacho Molina, has presented the initiative as a proposal that invites people to «stop, observe, learn and reflect».

Tickets are already on sale on the exhibition's official website, themysteryman.com.