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The Italian Chapel Orkney
In 1940, around 1800 Italian Prisoners of War who had been captured in North Africa were taken to the Orkney islands to assist in building the Churchill Barriers under the premise that this was a civilian project linking islands with roads.
In 1942 550 prisoners arrived on Lamb Holm Island in Camp 60. In 1943 with the arrival of a new Camp Commander they were given two nissen huts with the intention to build a chapel and a school .
The interior murals were painted by one of the prisoners, Domenico Chiocchetti, who also created a statue of St George slaying the dragon from barbed wire covered with cement.
Since the war the chapel has been maintained by a POW Chapel Preservation Committee and is now a popular tourist attraction.
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