Beyond serving as places of worship or religious celebration, these extraordinary hotel chapels are portals into local customs and architectural and artistic traditions. Many have been painstakingly restored to their original splendor, offering visitors a chance to travel back in time—to the Italian Renaissance, the Andean Baroque movement in Peru, and the Byzantine period in Greece.

Kalesma Mykonos

Located on the grounds of Kalesma Mykonos, the recently completed church of Agios Dimitrios is an exquisite ode to the island’s Byzantine past, brought to life by Greece’s top contemporary artists and design talents, including creative agency Saint of Athens. As many of the island’s aristocratic mansions contain worship areas with ornate religious imagery, the owners of Kalesma Mykonos wanted to pay tribute to this local tradition. Greek design firm K-Studio oversaw the church’s Cycladic architecture, while the interiors—a collaboration between Studio Bonarchi’s Vangelis Bonios and graphic designer/illustrator Gerasimos Chatzis—drew on a range of influences, including references to great Greek hagiographers, Hellenistic elements, and Byzantine heritage. A typeface was specifically created for the church’s interiors: a predominantly black Byzantine, tribal script with shining gold accents that depicts the Passions of Holy Week. An original soundtrack by musician Stefanos Giakoumakis borrows from the vibrations of the surroundings, fusing the sounds of water and air with choral and orchestral elements.

Monasterio, A Belmond Hotel, Cusco

Walking inside the San Antonio Abad Chapel at Monasterio, a Belmond Hotel, you can’t help but feel the city’s Baroque history wash over you. Built on what was once the Palace of Inca Amaru Qhala, the church—constructed in the aftermath of the 1650 earthquake—features soaring ceilings with large-scale oil paintings in elaborate frames and a resplendent gold altar. It’s an astonishingly beautiful backdrop for weddings and other religious ceremonies. Guests can also exchange their vows within the cloistered walls of Monasterio’s main courtyard, amid grand stone arches, scented gardens, and a 300-year-old cedar tree. It’s no wonder the hotel has been recognized as a historical landmark by Peru’s National Institute of Culture.

Villa San Michele, A Belmond Hotel, Florence

Declared a National Monument in 1896, the Church of Villa San Michele all Doccia is a Renaissance-era masterpiece, complete with artworks that rival those at the country’s greatest cathedrals and galleries. Belmond faithfully restored the structure in 1988, washing the façade with distilled water and installing steel reinforcements to its weakest parts. The apse and the high altar are flanked with pietra serena columns, and there are four holy water stoups, two of which date to 1515, which is believed to be the year of the church’s original completion. Art aficionados can gaze up at Nicodemo Ferrucci’s Last Supper fresco, which has graced the walls since 1642 but was painstakingly restored in 1999, revealing details previously unseen, like the oil lamp above Christ’s halo. There is also a partially preserved 15ht-century fresco of the Ascension of Our Lord; a painting by Santi di Tito, who also completed works on the Vatican; and a stone coffin bearing the insignia of Pope Eugene IV. A colorful highlight is the 400-year-old wisteria, the only of its kind in Florence to bloom twice a year.

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