Orkneys Holiday Part 1

We took a week to tour the Scottish main island of Orkney.  My husband and I had read about it before moving to England and were determine to visit before we return to the states.  It is here that  several neolithic sites have been uncovered.  These sites are over 5,000 years old and date before the building of the great pyramids and stone henge.  In addition to these great sites we found the island full of history and we had a wonderful week of learning and exploring history from the Mesolithic period to modern day island living.

The first thing we discovered while driving around was an amazing WWII church built by Italian POW's.

Italian Chapel completely done by WWII prisoners

Prisoners renovated a Quonset hut

The men who contributed to building the chapel

Inside is completely painted there are no stones, tiles  or brinks on the floors, ceiling or walls

This picture was painted by Domenico Chiocchetti who carried a picture of the Madonna throughout the war.

the details in the paintings are amazing

the door again it is all painted

After the war ended most of the men returned home except for Domenico who remained behind to finish is chapel

All the iron work was done by another prisoner

16 years after the war the BBC track down the original artist, Domenico,  and brought him back to the chapel he painted to touch up the paintings.  The people of Orkney treasure this church and vowed to keep up the church maintenance

His family came back to view the chapel after he died.  Such an amazing story!

On the property is the Italian flag and a statue of St George slaying the dragon which represents 

Such a great story and beautiful church!  The painting inside is unbelievable it looks like real stones, bricks and tile inside but it is all metal and concrete.