May 10, 2015

The first ostentations of the Shroud of Turin in the Western world was in Lirey, a hamlet 16 km southwest of Troyes, the nearest large city. Lirey is still today a hamlet with about fourty houses and a 19th century chapel located on the same piece of land where the first chapel was built ca 1353. The first ostentations of the Shroud would have been ca 1357. In 1418, the Shroud leaves definitely the chapel and Lirey to be kept at the castle of Montfort under the protection of Humbert de Villersexel, the second husband of Marguerite de Charny, granddaughter of Geoffroy de Charny. The Shroud never came back to Lirey although the canons of Lirey tried many times over a century to regain the Shroud. A second chapel was inaugurated in 1525, which was demolished in 1828. A third chapel was built at the end of the 19th century. The following photographs show the inside and outside of this third chapel at Lirey.

In 1353, the chapel was supervised by a small group of canons, the collegiate, who lived nearby. In the following photo, on the right, is the site where the collegiate building was located (the chapel, not visible, is on the left). Notice the black small tower. It probably dates back to the 16th century. It houses pigeons that were probably used for communication.

The castle (or maison forte) of Geoffroy de Charny was further back on a small slightly elevated piece of land encircled by a protective trench filled with water. The trench is still visible today and water is still keeping the visitors away. The collegiate and the castle no longer exist and their pieces of land are now private. Thanks to Alain Hourseau who made the appropriate arrangements to access the site where the castle used to be located. The following photos show the trench filled with water and the castle site filled with trees.