 | The article's lead section may need to be rewritten. (September 2018) |
An embassy chapel is a place of worship within a foreign mission. Historically, embassy chapels have sometimes acted as clandestine churches, tolerated by the authorities to operate discreetly. Since embassies are exempt from the host country's laws, which is a form of extraterritoriality, these chapels were able to provide services to prohibited and persecuted religious groups. For example, Catholic embassy chapels in Great Britain provided services while Catholicism was banned under the Penal Laws.[1] A similar role was filled for Protestants by the Prussian embassy chapel in Rome, where Protestantism was unlawful until 1871. With the adoption of laws granting freedom of religion, these embassy chapels have often become regularized churches and parishes, such as that of the Dutch embassy chapel to the Ottoman Empire, now The Union Church of Istanbul.
- ^ Elliott, John (2002). Brown, Jonathan (ed.). The sale of the century: artistic relations between Spain and Great Britain, 1604–1655. New Haven: Yale University Press in association with Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. ISBN 9780300097610.