Secret 'Sistine Chapel' decked out with frescos in unlikely location

A church in New England may look like dozens of others from the outside — but it’s full of surprises once you step through the door. 

The South Solon Meeting House in Waterville, Maine, is known by locals as “Maine’s Sistine Chapel,” according to The Associated Press (AP).

Inside the building, the walls and ceilings are covered in 70-year-old fresco murals painted by artists in the 1950s. 

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The meeting house was built in 1842 and hosted church services until the 1940s, as AP reported.

In 1951, the empty building was discovered by Margaret Day Blake, a former art student.

Blake reached out to students at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and called young artists to paint frescoes, said AP.

The artists were told to recreate biblical scenes to “offer rich and suitable” imagery.

Colby College in Maine has dedicated a website to the church describing the various scenes and the 13 artists featured in the building.

Nonagenarians Sigmund Abeles of New York City and Sidney Hurwitz of Newton, Massachusetts were two of the artists who contributed.  

“We would go out there and paint and then take a lunch break in the cemetery behind the building. It was a very idyllic time,” Hurwitz told AP. 

He added, “I very much enjoyed it.”

Abeles, for his part, recalled a scene from the Book of Genesis.

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Abeles said he painted the scene of Jacob wrestling with the angel.

He told AP, “It’s a very, very special place, and it was a unique experience.”

Véronique Plesch, a Colby professor of art, told AP she hopes the building inspires more appreciation of frescoes.

“I fell in love with the place, because I have studied frescoes all my life,” said Plesch.

The building now operates as a community gathering and performance space.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.