The Italian Chapel in the Orkney Islands
How Prisoners of War Created a Symbol of Peace
Nov 11, 2009
The 550 Italian PoWs who arrived at Camp 60 on Lambholm, one of the Orkney islands, in January 1942 came to build the Churchill Barriers, four causeways that were designed to link five of the islands as protection for the Royal Navy’s anchorage at nearby Scapa Flow
Genesis of the Italian Chapel
The Orkney Islands, in the far north of Scotland, could not have been more different from the warm, sunny climes of southern Europe to which the Italians were accustomed. Unsurprisingly, they became despondent until their chaplain, Father Giacombazzi, suggested a chapel as a means of assuaging the harsh, windblown conditions of Lambholm’s near-Arctic winter.
Planning commenced in 1943, when Domenico Chiacchetti, an artist and sculptor, began to recruit a team of specialists. Their task - a truly formidable one - was to transform two ugly Nissen huts placed end to end into a place of quietude and worship
A Chapel Made from Scrap and Cans
The Italian Chapel was constructed from the most unpromising material - metal that came from cans of Bully Beef served in the camp canteen, odd pieces of scrap, flotsam and wood that floated onto the beach at Lambholm, and assorted pieces of metal and other waste products left over from the construction of the Churchill Barriers
One piece of timber salvaged from the sea made a tabernacle. The same find yielded enough iron for Palumbo, a blacksmith, to fashion two candelabra. Primavera, an electrician, produced four other candelbra made from brass. Chiocchetti designed, and Palumbo made, an intricate wrought iron floor-to-curved ceiling rood-screen for the sanctuary
The screen and entrance gates, which had a lace-like delicacy, took Palumbo four months to complete. Other prisoners donated their cigarette money to buy gold curtains to hang on either side of the sanctuary
Concrete Offcuts from the Churchill Barriers
The one material the Italians possessed in abundance was cement, comprising offcuts from the 66,000 enormous concrete blocks that went to make the Churchill Barriers. As a result, cement and concrete featured in the Italian Chapel in some curious places. The altar, for example, was fashioned from concrete by Bruttapasta, a sculptor who was famous in Italy for his work in cement. So were the altar rail and the holy water stoop
To transform the grim, grey interiors of the huts, Palumbo concealed their corrugated iron construction with plasterboard sheets attached to a framework. The sheets were, in their turn, disguised behind fake brickwork painted onto the plasterboard
The Italians Go Home
When World War II in Europe ended in the Spring of 1945, most of the prisoners returned to Italy, but Domenico Chiocchetti remained behind for a while to finish the font. He returned in 1960 to restore the interior paint work and came back again in 1964 bringing with him a gift of fourteen hand-carved wooden stations of the Cross which were placed on the Chapel walls
In 1969, after Chiochetti died, aged 89, a service of remembrance was held for him in the Chapel. Chiocchetti had always intended the Chapel to serve as a symbol of peace and reconciliation, the power of faith in adversity and the triumph of the human spirit over the darkness of war
The Italian Chapel Left Intact
This emotion asserted itself almost at once. For when a demolition squad arrived on Lamb Holm in 1945 to dismantle all traces of the island’s wartime past, they were so moved by the Italian Chapel that they refused to touch it, and instead, left it as they found it - intact
Sources
Paris, Philip, The Italian Chapel (Edinburgh Scotland, Black and White Publishing, 2009)ISBN-10: 1845022734/ ISBN-13: 978-1845022730
Website: The Italian Chapel Feature Page on Undiscovered Scotland
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