TINOS, Greece (AP) — A glance in any direction on the Greek island of Tinos reveals at least a dozen chapels, recognizable as tiny houses of worship by their miniature belltowers and simple crosses.
There are some 1,000 — more than one per 10 residents — and they’re owned and cared for by ordinary families, mostly Orthodox Christians but also Catholics, in a rare tradition rooted in centuries of history that they’re adamant about passing down the generations.
Eleftheria Levanti regularly prays that her children and grandchildren will enjoy the protection of the saints honored at her family’s three chapels. In a poem she’s written, she compares them to “pigeons that have stopped to rest. These are our small chapels, the houses of God built by his children to praise him.”
Giannis Kafantaris, 26, reads a book outside Panagia Theoskespasti, the chapel his family co-owns near the village of Falatados, on the Aegean island of Tinos, Greece, Friday, Sept. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Bernadette Foskolos cleans her Agios Athanasios family-owned chapel at the village of Steni, on Tinos island, Greece, Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Family-owned chapels stand on the Aegean Sea island of Tinos, Greece, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Across the wind-swept island, some chapels are squeezed between giant granite boulders where goats scamper or on top of schist rockfaces plunging into the sea. Others perch among olive groves, vines or beehives, and others still share walls with houses in the many villages. On a high plateau, one Orthodox and one Catholic chapel sit back-to-back, their doors facing opposite sides.
Some chapels have chandeliers, an intricate marble iconostasis or dozens of icons, while others have no electricity, only a stand for candles by the main icon in the stony interior.
At least once a year, the families gather to brush them up — a fresh coat of paint for the whitewashed walls, waterproofing the roof, retouching the blue accents on doors, windows and belltower tops, and polishing the liturgical implements.
Naim Domi, 50, an Albanian worker who has lived in Greece for 17 years, paints the Panagia Faneromeni co-family-owned chapel, near the village of Pyrgos, on the island of Tinos, Greece, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
An Orthodox priest swings a censer during a liturgy at the family-owned Agios Sostis chapel on the island of Tinos, Greece, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Then dozens to hundreds of community members gather to worship and to celebrate during the feast day of the saint or honorific of the Virgin Mary that the chapel is devoted to.
Even those who don’t consider themselves religious are proud of their chapels and engaged in their upkeep.
“I like to come here because it’s quiet; it’s a peaceful place to relax,” said Giannis Kafantaris, 26, who took a book to Panagia Theoskepasti, the chapel his family co-owns, on a recent September afternoon. “I want to keep it going.”
Tourists from the United States enjoy an organized picnic outside Agios Giorgos (St. George), a 200-year-old chapel near the village of Volax on Tinos island, Greece, Friday, Sept. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Greek Orthodox priest Antonios Stathopoulos swings a censer during a liturgy at the family-owned Agios Sostis chapel on the island of Tinos, Greece, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Konstantinos Vasilopoulos lights a candle at the Panagia Faneromeni family-owned chapel near the village of Triantaros, on the island of Tinos, Greece, Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Dragana Grozdanovic, whose son was married in a family chapel in Tinos, lights a candle in Agios Giorgos (St. George), a 200-year-old chapel near the village of Volax on Tinos island, Greece, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
An icon of the Virgin Mary holding the Christ child is displayed inside Agios Giorgos (St. George), a 200-year-old chapel near the village of Volax on Tinos island, Greece, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Ioanna Louvari, 96, talks with another elderly woman during a liturgy at the family-owned Agios Sostis chapel on the island of Tinos, Greece, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A goat stands on a rock as the sun shines on a family chapel on the island of Tinos, Greece, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
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This is a documentary photo story curated by AP photo editors.
