If you ever find yourself in Kalesma Hotel Mykonos, one of the most iconic island hotels, remember to pay a visit to the hotel’s chapel. This small Cycladic church holds an imposing surprise. Its exterior and interior are where Cycladic heritage, the tradition of Byzantine iconography and tribal art influences are brought together, unexpectedly complementing each other to create an ambience of mystic spirituality.
Saint of Athens responded to the request of the hotel’s team to create the fresco iconography of a Saint Demetrius chapel within the hotel premises, which would honor the Cycladic tradition of building private family chapels. For the iconography’s theme, the agency tapped into an idea of Sophia Kusathana’s, one of the hotel’s owners: the frescoes would tell the story of the Passions of Holy Week.
The architects of K-Studio and the interior designer team of Vangelis Bonios – Studio Bonarchi designed the chapel to match the stripped-down, cubistic style of the hotel, and the ascetic form of a traditional Cycladic chapel. Approaching the simple edifice with the small windows already prepares you for an acquaintance with Greek-Orthodox heritage. But entering the chapel brings you into an unexpected experience. Under the curation and art direction of Saint of Athens, the chapel is decorated with black-and-white frescoes that re-imagine the theological language of Byzantine iconography. They adorn the interior running alongside its walls like an ancient Greek temple frieze, while keeping the two-dimensional style that Byzantine artists used in order to capture the spiritual essence of the holy figures.
Created by illustrator Gerasimos Hatzis, the iconography depicts episodes from the Holy Week but rendered exclusively in black and white. This simple yet striking contrast, highlighted by the black wooden altarpiece, feels like a natural extension to the island’s monochromatic character. What’s more, the Byzantine portraiture is combined with the most surprising element: bold geometric tribal shapes and motifs. It’s like a new style of iconography being born, “tribal Byzantinism,” adding to devout Byzantine and Greek-Orthodox art a cosmopolitan, multi-cultural aspect that somehow feels harmoniously balanced, never failing to exude spirituality, which is highlighted by the use of gold on the halos of the holy figures.
It took almost a whole year for the decoration of the chapel to be completed. The result is a visual manifestation of devoutness that manages to both respect tradition and feel contemporary. The frescoes get complemented with the imposing soundscape, specially designed by Stephanos Giakoumakis to follow the visual storytelling of the Passion of Christ, adding to the mystic character of the chapel’s atmosphere.
An unexpected, almost transcendental, candle-lit co-existence of Byzantine iconography, inspiration, and contemporary art curation.
Architects: K-Studio
Interior Design: Studio Bοnarchi
Iconography Theme: Sophia Kusathana
Curation & Art Direction: Saint of Athens
Iconography: Gerasimos Hatzis
Soundscape: Stephanos Giakoumakis
Photography: Gavriil Papadiotis
