The Italian Chapel - Orkney Isles
Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 8:32 amA 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
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
