The Italian Chapel - Orkney Isles

[CraigVTR]

A couple of old shots from 2011 whilst I was on holiday in the UK.

From Wikipideia
"The Italian Chapel is a highly ornate Catholic chapel on Lamb Holm in Orkney, Scotland. It was built by Italian prisoners of war during World War II, 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. It was not completed until after the end of the war, and was restored in the 1960s and again in the 1990s. It is now a popular tourist attraction, and a category A listed building.
550 Italian prisoners of war, captured in North Africa during World War II, were brought to Orkney in 1942. They constructed the Churchill Barriers, four causeways created to block access to Scapa Flow. 200 were based at Camp 60 on Lamb Holm.[4] In 1943, Major T P Buckland, Camp 60's new commandant, and Father Giacobazzi, the Camp's priest, agreed that a place of worship was required.
The chapel was constructed from limited materials by the prisoners. Two Nissen huts were 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 POW from Moena. He painted the sanctuary end of the chapel and fellow-prisoners decorated the entire interior. They created a front facade out of concrete, concealing the shape of the hut and making the building look like a church.
Chiocchetti remained on the island to finish the chapel, even when his fellow prisoners were released shortly before the end of the war.

This was a truly magical place with a very peaceful feel, especially considering the circumstances of it's construction.
All shots were taken with D300 handheld with the interiors @ 1600iso. I have just reprocessed the images in LR4, previously done in CaptureNX2, to improve the shadow areas.
You can see a larger version by clicking on the photo.

800 @f/5.3 ISO: 720
Sigma 10-20 @ 18mm


20 @f/4 ISO:1600
Sigma 10-20 @ 10mm


60 @f/2.8 ISO: 1600
Nikkor 105 VR


40 @f/2.8 ISO: 1600
Nikkor 105 VR

[Remorhaz]

Interesting building Craig - love the half pipe roof

[aim54x]

Beautiful images and wonderful story behind!

[CraigVTR]

Thanks guys.
The art work is so good that it is not immediately apparent that the 'stained glass' and 'tiles' are all paintwork. A magical place.

[Alpha_7]

Great images and love the story behind it. The interior is really gorgeous.

[CraigVTR]

Thanks Craig.

[PiroStitch]

Lovely images of the interior and what a story to boot!

[zafra52]

Well done! I love the photo composition
and the colours. It looks a cold place to
live in and brought memories of living
in Scotland in Winter. Thanks for sharing
the story with us.

[CraigVTR]

Thanks guys.

Zafra I would love to spend a year living in Scotland to experience the winter and shoot the landsape.