Cemeteries are places to pay tribute, remember, and reflect.

Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis has a historic hidden gem, called the Memorial Chapel.

“I think it’s a real hidden treasure,” Amanda Luke with Lakewood Cemetery said. “It’s such a gorgeous space.”

When the chapel was completed in 1910 it was the only building in America with an authentic mosaic interior.

Prominent Minneapolis architect Harry Jones modeled the chapel after a mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.

“You don’t think about architecture in a cemetery, you think about monuments,” Luke said. 

The chapel interior designer traveled to Rome to enlist the services of six highly accomplished mosaic artists who had just completed a project in the Vatican.

“This type of mosaic work couldn’t be done today,” Luke said. “The craftsmanship just doesn’t exist. People don’t have the skills needed to do this level of tile work anymore.”

The chapel is 40 feet high; 12 angels adorn the dome and 24 stained-glass windows serve as a sundial telling the time of day and season. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places.