Built From What They Had

The chapel on Lamb Holm is two army huts joined end to end. A caretaker was unlocking it when Polly arrived. "What is your job?" she asked him. He opened the doors in the morning, he said, and painted what the salt air took off.

Kapelica na otočiću Lamb Holm dvije su vojne barake spojene jedna za drugom. Kad je Polly stigla, čuvar ju je otključavao. „Čime se bavite?” pitala ga je. Ujutro otvara vrata, rekao je, i prelakirava ono što slani zrak skine.

Inside, the huts disappear. Italian prisoners of war came here in the nineteen forties to work on the sea barriers. They asked for somewhere to worship. They were given corrugated metal. What they made was a painted ceiling, an iron screen and an altarpiece. A painter named Domenico Chiocchetti led the work.

Iznutra barake nestaju. Talijanski ratni zarobljenici došli su ovamo četrdesetih godina dvadesetog stoljeća raditi na morskim branama. Zamolili su za mjesto na kojem će se moliti. Dobili su valoviti lim. Načinili su oslikani strop, željeznu pregradu i oltarnu palu. Radove je vodio slikar Domenico Chiocchetti.

"What do you need to complete the work?" That was the question. They asked for cement, and they got cement. Everything else came from what the camp threw away. The screen is scrap iron. The candle holders are old meat tins. The stone of the chancel is painted plasterboard.

„Što vam treba da dovršite posao?” To je bilo pitanje. Tražili su cement i dobili su cement. Sve ostalo došlo je iz onoga što je logor bacao. Pregrada je staro željezo. Svijećnjaci su stare limenke od mesa. Kamen svetišta je oslikana gipsana ploča.

A small hand tool sat on the sill. "Could you show me how to use this tool?" Polly asked. He showed her, and she missed it. "Could you explain that again?" He did. Then she looked up at a flat metal ceiling that pretends to be a curve.

Na prozorskoj dasci stajao je mali ručni alat. „Možete li mi pokazati kako se koristi ovaj alat?” pitala je Polly. Pokazao joj je, a ona nije uhvatila. „Možete li mi to ponovno objasniti?” Objasnio je. Zatim je podigla pogled prema ravnom limenom stropu koji se pretvara da je svod.