Persecutions in the second century caused the cloth to be hidden away inside the fortified wall surrounding the city. A severe flood destroyed most of Edessa. The cloth was rediscovered during the rebuilding of the walls. The Byzantine Imperial Army invaded Edessa for the express reason of retrieving the cloth from the city which had fallen to Islam. Constantinople was invaded by the Fourth Crusade and the Mandylion disappeared.
Evidence suggests it was secretly kept by the Knights Templars.
Geoffrey DeCharney first exhibited the Shroud in Lirey, France. Evidence indicates that certain ancestral family members were also leaders within the Templar organization. Many say yes. Both science and history seem to indicate that this is the case. The Shroud was photographed for the first time by Secondo Pia.