Overview of Italian Chapel

Two prisoner-of-war nissen huts on the small island of Lamb Holm in the Orkney Isles were converted for use as a chapel by Italians captured in North Africa during World War II and sent to work on the construction of the Orkney Barriers. The interior murals were painted by one of the prisoners, Domenico Chiocchetti (1910-99), who also created a statue of St George slaying the dragon from barbed wire covered with cement. Chiocchetti also painted above the altar a representation of the Madonna and Child based on a famous work by Niccolo Barabino (1832-91) and from his home town of Moena in Italy there came the gift of a carved figure of the crucified Christ which was erected as a wayside shrine beside the chapel in 1961. Since the war the chapel has been maintained by a POW Chapel Preservation Committee and is now a popular tourist attraction.