Of course us Eastern Christians know better. The image of the Christus Procrantor is know in our churches since about the 6th cent. There are several parallel references to the Holy Shroud. (ie., the lock of hair over the forehead, the big eyes, the bent cloth over the throat, etc.)
Actually, if any object is burnt it stops the deterioration process. I used to be an archaeologist, and we would try to find pieces of charcoal because they would help date the site.
I saw a blub on CNN that a statue in an Alaskan town is bleeding.
