50.100.254.80: spelt out acronym

2025-03-24T12:16:24Z

spelt out acronym

New page

{{Short description|Chapel in Orkney built by Italian prisoners of war}}
{{EngvarB|date=May 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}
[[File:Italian Chapel, Orkney-Pano-PS-final.jpg|thumb|The Italian Chapel, interior]][[File:Italian Chapel (exterior), Orkney-PS-Edit final.jpg|thumb|Exterior of the chapel]]
[[File:The Italian Chapel, Lamb Holm - font - geograph.org.uk - 955182.jpg|thumb|Font of the Italian Chapel]]
The '''Italian Chapel''' is a highly ornate [[Catholic]] chapel on [[Lamb Holm]] in [[Orkney]], [[Scotland]]. It was built during the Second World War by Italian prisoners of war, 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. The chapel was not completed until after the end of the war, and was restored in the 1960s and again in the 1990s. It is a popular tourist attraction, and a [[Category A listed building]].<ref>{{Citation |title=Lamb Holm the Italian Chapel |url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/sc-12728-lamb-holm-the-italian-chapel-roman-cathol|publisher=Listed Buildings Online |accessdate=12 June 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{Historic Environment Scotland|num=LB12728|desc=Lamb Holm, The Italian Chapel, (Roman Catholic), including Statue|access-date=7 June 2020}}</ref>

It is in the Roman Catholic Parish of Our Lady & St Joseph in Orkney, part of the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Aberdeen]]. [[Mass in the Catholic Church|Mass]] is held in the chapel on the first Sunday of the summer months (April–September).<ref>{{cite web|title=Catholic Orkney|url=http://www.catholicchurchorkney.org.uk/catholic_orkney.html|website=The Roman Catholic Parish of Our Lady & St. Joseph in Orkney|accessdate=28 October 2017}}</ref>

== Construction ==

550 Italian [[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]], captured in North Africa during the Second World War, were brought to [[Orkney]] in 1942. They worked on the construction of the [[Churchill Barriers]], four causeways created to block sea access to [[Scapa Flow]].<ref>{{cite book| author=Colpi, Terri| title=Italians Forward: a Visual History of the Italian Community in Great Britain| publisher=Mainstream| year=1991| isbn=1-85158-349-1}}</ref> 200 were based at Camp 60 on Lamb Holm.<ref name="essential"/> In 1943, Major Thomas Pyres Buckland, Camp 60's new commandant, and Father Gioacchino Giacobazzi, the camp's Catholic priest, agreed that a place of worship was required.

The chapel was constructed from limited materials by the [[prisoner of war|prisoners]] in the form of a [[tin tabernacle]], and comprises two [[Nissen hut]]s joined end-to-end. The corrugated interior was then covered with plasterboard and the altar and altar rail were constructed from concrete left over from work on the barriers. Most of the interior decoration was done by [[Domenico Chiocchetti]], a prisoner from [[Moena]] in [[Trentino]], northern Italy.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.scottish-places.info/features/featurefirst3934.html | title=Italian Chapel| publisher=[[Gazetteer for Scotland]]| accessdate=30 August 2009}}</ref> He painted the sanctuary end of the chapel and fellow prisoners decorated the entire interior. They created a facade out of concrete, concealing the shape of the hut and making the building look like a church. The light holders were made out of [[corned beef]] tins. The baptismal font was made from the inside of a car exhaust covered in a layer of concrete.

When his fellow prisoners were released shortly before the end of the war, Chiocchetti remained on the island to finish decorating the newly consecrated chapel.<ref name="essential">{{cite web |last1=Crowther |first1=Stewart |title=The Miracle of Lambholm |url=http://www.callnetuk.com/home/hibs/the1.htm |accessdate=6 September 2019 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927032958/http://www.callnetuk.com/home/hibs/the1.htm |archivedate=27 September 2007}}</ref><ref>''Orkney's Italian Chapel''. P.O.W. Chapel Preservation Committee, Stromness undated, p.5</ref>

== Preservation ==

In 1958, the Chapel Preservation Committee was set up by a group of [[Orcadians]]. In 1960, Chiocchetti returned to assist in the restoration. He returned again in 1964, with Mrs Maria Chiocchetti, but he was too ill to travel when some of the other prisoners returned in 1992 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of their arrival on the island. He died in 1999. In 1996, a declaration was jointly signed by officials in Orkney and Chiocchetti's hometown of Moena, reinforcing the ties between the two places.

The chapel is still used for worship and remains a popular tourist attraction, receiving over 100,000 visitors every year. It has become one of the best-known symbols of reconciliation in the United Kingdom.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.orcadian.co.uk/features/articles/prisoners.htm| publisher=[[The Orcadian]]| date=March 2002| title=The history of the Italian Chapel| accessdate=30 August 2009| url-status=dead| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090323045440/http://www.orcadian.co.uk/features/articles/prisoners.htm| archivedate=23 March 2009}}</ref>
[[File:Italian Chapel3.jpg|alt=Painted stonework effect|thumb|Painted stonework effect]]
Philip Paris wrote two books, one fiction and one non-fiction, about the building of the chapel.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.philipparis.co.uk/italian_chapel.html|title=Philip Paris, Author: The Italian Chapel}}</ref> The 2009 novel ''The Chapel at the Edge of the World'' by Kirsten Mckenzie covers the chapel's building.<ref>{{cite news|last1=House|first1=Christian|title=The Chapel at the Edge of the World, By Kirsten McKenzie|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-chapel-at-the-edge-of-the-world-by-kirsten-mckenzie-1767715.html|accessdate=24 September 2016|work=The Independent|date=8 August 2009}}</ref>

In 2014, a special Mass was held at the chapel to mark its 70th anniversary.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://orkneychant.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/angela-chiochetti-sings-panis-angelicus.html |title=The Orkney Schola: Angela Chiochetti sings "Panis Angelicus" in the Chapel her father decorated |date=19 May 2014 |accessdate=25 September 2016 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160927080945/http://orkneychant.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/angela-chiochetti-sings-panis-angelicus.html |archivedate=27 September 2016 }}</ref> During the Mass, Angela Chiocchetti, the daughter of Domenico Chiocchetti, sang ''[[Panis angelicus]]''.

In 2015, professional art restorer Antonella Papa offered and had her services accepted to restore the chapel's [[fresco]]es, spending a month on the work.<ref>{{cite news|title=Italian artist to restore Orkney Italian Chapel frescos|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-32202900|accessdate=28 October 2017|publisher=BBC|date=7 April 2015}}</ref> She continued this work with the help of local volunteers at the end of October 2017.<ref>{{cite news|title=Art expert resumes Italian Chapel restoration work|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-41778818|accessdate=28 October 2017|publisher=BBC|date=28 October 2017}}</ref>

==Architectural details==
[[File:Italian chapel1.jpg|alt=Chapel interior|thumb|Chapel interior]]
<gallery>
Image:Italian Chapel Ironwork - Lamb Holm - Orkney - kingsley - 29-JUN-09.JPG|Interior metalwork detail
Image:Italian War Memorial, Lamb Holm - geograph.org.uk - 955201.jpg|War memorial, including a statue of [[Saint George]], outside the chapel
File:OrkneyItalianChapel.JPG|Detail of murals
</gallery>

== See also ==
* [[Pietermaritzburg Italian P.O.W. Church]]
* [[Excalibur Estate]], London, built by Italian and German prisoners of war
* [[Statue of Romulus and Remus, Beechbarrow]], Somerset, built by an Italian ex-prisoner of war

== References ==

{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
{{Coord|58.8897|N|2.8901|W|region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(HY488006)|display=title}}
* {{oscoor gbx|HY488006}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140520031153/http://www.spirit-of-orkney.com/contents1a/2009/08/orkneys-italian-chapel/ Orkney’s Italian Chapel]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Roman Catholic churches completed in 1943]]
[[Category:Category A listed buildings in Orkney]]
[[Category:Listed Roman Catholic churches in Scotland]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic chapels in Scotland]]
[[Category:Churches in Orkney]]
[[Category:Italy in World War II]]
[[Category:United Kingdom home front during World War II]]
[[Category:1943 establishments in Scotland]]
[[Category:Italian diaspora in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Foreign relations of Scotland]]
[[Category:Scotland in World War II]]
[[Category:20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom]]

Italian Chapel - Revision history

50.100.254.80: spelt out acronym