In 1898, Italian photographer Secondo Pia made the first photographs of the Shroud of Turin, revealing an extraordinary phenomenon: the faint image on the cloth appeared as a remarkably clear human figure when photographed. The discovery caused an international sensation, transforming a centuries-old religious relic into a subject of photographic and scientific inquiry. Pia’s photograph occupies a fascinating place in the history of the medium, demonstrating photography’s perceived ability to reveal information invisible to the naked eye and its then-growing authority as an instrument of evidence.