By Paula Day

The Shroud of Turin Exhibit, an exclusive Atlanta display since November, 1982, is looking for a home.

The exhibit and study center has until May 5 to locate the needed 6,000 to 7,500 square feet to house its unique collection of research publications and scientific analyses of the Shroud of Turin.

Offers for permanent locations have come from as far away as Florida and Texas, according to Rev. Albert (Kim) Dreisbach, Jr., the Episcopalian priest who directs the Center.

However, Father Dreisbach does not want the Center, which is incorporated as the Atlanta International Center for Continuing Study of the Shroud of Turin, to leave the Atlanta area.

"It really belongs downtown," commented Fulton Country Commission member, Lee Roach, who has been helping in the search for a new location.

"It's partly our fault," he continued. "We've been keeping it (the need for a new location) 'low key' -- haven't given it much publicity."

A possible site, according to Roach is in Atlanta's Civic Center with its easy wheelchair access and proximity to the city's convention business. City officials would have to approve renting this space to the exhibit.

Property near the King Center with its annual half-million visitors has been offered. Members of the Assemblies of God have approached Father Dreisbach to offer the site of the former Stone Mountain Carving Museum on Memorial Drive to the exhibit. Membership of the First Baptist Church of Atlanta will store the exhibit, if necessary, until a site is found.

On Good Friday, Roach approached the Center's present landlord, Omni owner Ted Turner, and asked for an extension on the Center's tenure. Turner was gracious but "very adamant" in his refusal, according to Roach. Turner explained he was dealing with the situation from a purely business perspective. As a non-profit corporation, the Center depends on private donations. It can afford no more than $1,000 rent, according to Father Dreisbach.

The Shroud of Turin is claimed by popular tradition to be the cloth in which Jesus was wrapped when He was buried. Since 1578, it has been kept in a repository in the Cathedral of Turin, Italy. Generally it is on public display only two or three times every century.

At the time of its most recent public display in 1978, the Shroud was subjected to rigorous scientific examination. Forty U.S. scientists used advanced technology to analyze the cloth's imprint. The analysis showed a detailed three-dimensional image of a crucified man, providing evidence that the Shroud had been wrapped around a body and was not an artistic work.

Results of carbon 14 tests to determine the date of the Shroud will be delivered to the Archbishop of Turin by early 1988.