Orkney's Italian Chapel: The Story of an Icon is a companion volume to the same author's The Italian Chapel, a novel inspired by the building of this exquisite little symbol of the strength of the human spirit to overcome adversity.
How the Italian Chapel Came to be Built on the Orkney islands
As recounted in this book by author Philip Paris, at the very beginning of World War II the British battleship the Royal Oak was sunk in Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands by a German U-boat. This had succeeded in slipping through a narrow and shallow channel between two of the smaller islands in the archipelago of the Orkney Islands.
Over 800 British sailors died in the attack, including over 120 boy sailors. The response to this tragedy and crushing blow to the British war effort was to make the natural harbour of Scapa Flow more safe by closing off the channels between the smaller islands. This was done by creating what came to be known as the Churchill barriers.
How the Italian Prisoners of War Came to the Orkney Islands
At the beginning of 1942 hundreds of Italian prisoners-of-war, captured in North Africa, were drafted in to Orkney to work on the construction of the Churchill Barriers. They were housed in camps made up of Nissen huts, inhospitable homes in a climate which could be harsh in the extreme.
However, a seed of hope blossomed into the transformation of one of those Nissen huts into a beautiful chapel in the style of the places of worship in the Italians' faraway homeland.
Although the Nissen huts of Camp 60 on the island of Lamb Holm are long gone, the Italian Chapel still stands. It has joined Orkney's many fascinating historic and prehistoric sites as an unmissable stop on any tour of the Islands.
The Building of Orkney's Italian Chapel
One of the Italian prisoners-of-war was an artist named Domenico Chiochetti. The chapel which he and other artists, craftsmen and labourers among the prisoners helped build grew from the inspiration of a prayer card Chiochetti carried, depicting the Madonna and Child.
Help came from the Britons guarding the Italians, too, and from the people of Orkney, forging friendships which, as author Philip Paris puts it, "have continued down through the generations."
Almost all of the materials used were what we would now call recycled. Everything that could be used was used.
Philip Paris dedicates his book to all those involved, the artists and craftsmen and "the men who laboured, raised money and foraged for scrap materials ... to create one of the greatest symbols of hope and peace to come out of the Second World War."
How Orkney's Italian Chapel: The True Story of An Icon Came to Be Written
In a moving introduction to his meticulously researched and elegantly written book, author Philip Paris explains how he and his wife Catherine first visited the Italian Chapel during their honeymoon on Orkney in 2005.
Gripped, Philip Paris resolved there and then to find out everything he could about the Italian Chapel and the people who had built it. After four years of research, he has done exactly that, leaving no stone unturned in order to be able to tell the story as comprehensively as possible. He also sets the story beautifully in the context of the times. Packed with facts and personalities, it is also immensely readable.
The book is well illustrated, with many photographs of those involved in the creation of the Italian Chapel which have never before been published.
This very warm and human book is a moving celebration of Orkney's Italian Chapel and a worthy tribute to the men who created it. Orkney's Italian Chapel: The True Story of an Icon is published by Black & White Publishing of Leith, Edinburgh.
Find out more about the fascinating and scenically stunning Orkney Islands.
