Italian Chapel

The Italian Chapel on the tiny island of Lamb Holm was built during the Second World War by Italian prisoners of war, interned on Orkney to work on the Churchill Barriers. They started with two Nissen huts and decorated them with real skill from whatever materials came to hand, turning them into a Roman Catholic chapel. It stands as an act of faith and craft in bleak circumstances.

Around 550 Italian POWs built it between 1943 and 1944, led by the artist Domenico Chiocchetti. They joined two Nissen huts end to end for the shell, then added a concrete facade to give it a proper church front. The interior, the vaulted ceiling, the trompe l'oeil brickwork, the altar and the rood screen, was painted entirely by hand using paint, plasterboard and whatever the men could scrounge or improvise.

The chapel is about 8 miles south of Kirkwall on the A961, a 15-minute drive across the Churchill Barriers. Lamb Holm is linked to the Orkney mainland by Barrier Number 1, and the road carries on south through South Ronaldsay toward the ferry terminal at Burwick.

It is, still an active Roman Catholic chapel that draws visitors from around the world. It was carefully restored in the 1960s with the help of Domenico Chiocchetti himself, who came back to Orkney to work on his original paintwork. Entry is free, and there's a small gift shop at the site.