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.

Kaplnka na ostrovčeku Lamb Holm sú dva vojenské baraky spojené za sebou. Keď Polly prišla, správca ju práve odomykal. "Aké máte zamestnanie?" spýtala sa ho. Ráno otváram dvere, povedal, a premaľúvam to, čo zožral slaný vzduch.

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.

Vnútri baraky zmiznú. Talianski vojnoví zajatci sem prišli v štyridsiatych rokoch dvadsiateho storočia, aby stavali morské hrádze. Požiadali o miesto, kde by sa mohli modliť. Dostali vlnitý plech. Urobili z neho maľovaný strop, kovanú mrežu a oltárny obraz. Prácu viedol maliar menom 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.

"Čo potrebujete na dokončenie práce?" To bola tá otázka. Požiadali o cement a cement dostali. Všetko ostatné vzniklo z toho, čo tábor vyhadzoval. Mreža je zo šrotu. Svietniky sú zo starých konzerv od mäsa. Kameň presbytéria je natretý sadrokartón.

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 parapete ležalo malé ručné náradie. "Mohli by ste mi ukázať, ako sa používa tento nástroj?" spýtala sa Polly. Ukázal jej to a ona to nepochytila. "Mohli by ste to vysvetliť ešte raz?" Urobil to. Potom zdvihla oči k rovnému plechovému stropu, ktorý sa tvári ako klenba.