The Italian Chapel

With the Orkney Islands blue on last night's weather chart, we feared the worst. However it was dry if not a bit misty as we headed south early and over Churchill Barrier 1 to Lambholm and the Italian Chapel.

We were lucky in that we were early enough to have the place more or less to ourselves.

Most people know the story of the building of the Chapel, but bear with me while I give a synopsis.

It is all that remains of Camp 60 where several hundred Italian prisoners of WW2, captured in the North Africa campaign were sent to help build the Churchill Barriers, giant concrete causeways between islands blocking the eastern entrance to ScapaFlow.

In 1943 the camp still lacked a chapel and so two nissan huts were placed end to end to make one, and a group of talented prisoners under the tutelage of Padre Father Giacobazzi and the artist Chiocchetti, set to work and produced this masterpiece.

It is hard to believe that everything was made from scrap materials, and painted so beautifully by Chiocchetti.
The rood screen and gate were fashioned by a prisoner who had been a wrought iron worker in America and it remains to this day the most glorious thing to see.

In 1960, Chiocchetti returned to Orkney to restore some of the paintings and a service was held to mark the restoration, which was attended by Orcadians of all denominations.
I wonder what these Italian prisoners would think if they knew that 60 years on, their chapel was a 'must see' for a visitor to Orkney.

We made it back to Kirkwall ahead of the rain, but it's caught up with us now. A blip posting is first on the list and then with wet weather gear on, we will venture out and see what Kirkwall has to offer on a wet Sunday afternoon.