Italian Chapel 2

Last few for the moment from the Italian Chapel, starting with the mural behind the altar:

Candles burning at the altar:

Statue of George & The Dragon, with the moon rising behind:

Why St George? It was a symbol of the prisoners' triumph over separation and loneliness.

Sistine Chapel...

Okay, so really it's the Italian Chapel,on Lamb Holm in Orkney, but it's still beautiful artwork.

I promised you some more photos, and there are one or two more to come yet. These focus on the mural painted above the altar.

On the right side as you face the altar...

Above you...

And to the left...

There has been some restoration carried out since the war time (in the 60's, the late Domenico Chiocchetti, who was responsible for most of the internal decoration, and who had stayed behind when the prisoners were released to complete his vision, came over to help with the restoration), but nothing has really been changed since the 1940's.

It's a very beautiful and peaceful place, and well worth a visit.

Italian Chapel 1

Photos taken at Italian Chapel, Lamb Holm last Monday night.

Front view... doesn't it look like a beautiful, fancy building?

If you didn't know, you would hardly believe that from side on, it looks like this...

... being made of 2 nissen huts joined end to end...

Here's the altar...

You would hardly believe that the Italian PoW's that created this chapel used concrete left over from manufacture of The Churchill Barriers (although they weren't allowed to be called "barriers" because the Geneva Convention prohibited the use of prisoner labour to build defensive structures... so they were classed as "causeways" to join the some of the south islands and improve communications), scrap materials lying around, and even corned beef tins to make some of the light fittings!

More photos of it will follow...