Thursday 23 February 2012
The Italian Chapel
It is 70 years ago today that the first Italian prisoners of war (POW) arrived on the Orkney island of Lamb Holm. They would spend the next two years reinforcing the Churchill Barriers, which protect the then naval base at Scapa Flow. In between, they also converted two old Nissen huts into a church. In addition to these picture slides on the BBC, I am posting some of my own pics, which I took during a visit in October 2008.
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Beautiful craftmanship! I like the unusual tunnel like ceiling.
ReplyDeleteguido, an exquisite Church. i just googled it. here is what Wikipedia says:
ReplyDeleteThe Italian Chapel is a highly ornate Catholic chapel on Lamb Holm in Orkney, Scotland. It was built by Italian prisoners of war during World War II, who were housed on the previously uninhabited island while they constructed the Churchill Barriers to the east of Scapa Flow. Only the concrete foundations of the other buildings of the prisoner-of-war camp survive. It was not completed until after the end of the war, and was restored in the 1960s and again in the 1990s. It is now a popular tourist attraction, and a category A listed building.
you said you photographed it. did you get to visit inside?
krissy knox :)