Lamb Holm - The Orkney Islands

The island of Lamb Holm is uninhabited and lies in Holm Sound, one of the eastern entrances to Scapa Flow.  The island's main attraction is an Italian Chapel built by Italian prisoners of war during World War II. In 1942, more than 1300 Italian prisoners of war were captured in North Africa and taken to Orkney.  The prisoners, under the leadership of Domenico Chiocchetti transformed two Nissen huts into a chapel allowing the prisoners a place of worship.

 We stopped off at Lamb Holm near the end of the week long trip.

As a descendant of Italian immigrants I found the chapel particularly endearing.  It was nice to see that Italians had left their mark in such a far flung region of Scotland with a peaceful ornate chapel built during times of conflict.

The interior has been painted and decorated to resemble churches that the prisoners remembered from their native Italy.

The chapel is one of Orkney's most popular tourist attractions.