Alter, Italian Chapel, Orkney

We caught the first ferry this morning from Gills Bay across the Pentland Firth to St Margaret’s Hope. Making our way across the “Churchill Barriers” we stopped off to visit the Italian Chapel on Lamb Holm. It was built during World War II by Italian prisoners of war who had been set to work on constructing the Churchill barriers.

The chapel was made from two Nissen huts. The alter was made from concrete left over from work on the barriers. Domenico Chiocchetti did most of the interior decoration including the painting of Madonna and Child over the alter.

We spent some of the afternoon in the Orkney Museum in Kirkwall as planned which worked out well as it’s been a wet start to our visit! The museum’s given us a good background for exploring the historical sites over the next few days.