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100 Buildings 100 Years
1944: Italian Chapel, Orkney
Status: Listed
Condition: Good condition
Type: Place of worship
Architect: Domenico Chiocchetti and Italian PoWs
Location: Lambholm, Orkney, KW17 2SF
On October 14, 1939, HMS Royal Oak was sunk by a German submarine in Scapa Flow. 834 died. Churchill ordered the construction of protective barriers. Italian prisoners of war, based in Camp 60, worked constructing the Barriers. Led by Domenico Chiocchetti, and encouraged by their padre and the British commander, the Italians improved their drab camp. They constructed an elaborately decorated chapel, using two Nissen huts, with scrap materials. Skilled artists, electricians and metal workers transformed the huts. Statues, trompe l’oiel paintings, coloured glass windows and a decorated facade were created. Work was completed by 1944.
After the War the camp closed and the chapel declined. It was restored, by Chiocchetti and islanders, in 1961. It was listed grade A in 1987. It’s now a popular tourist site: testament to the prisoners’ skills and our common human need to embellish and worship.
by Aidan Turner-Bishop
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