When a deserted church is acquired by skaters, it is bound for radical transformation. The Church of Santa Barbara in Llanera, Spain, was built in 1912 by local architect Manuel del Busto, but some years later it was abandoned. Recently it was rediscovered by a group of skaters, who immediately saw the church’s potential as a place for their type of worship—a place to skate. The collective “The Church Brigade” was formed to oversee the renovation of the Church of Santa Barbara. In place of pews in the nave, the collective installed a massive halfpipe on which skateboarders can ride window to window in the century-old Spanish church.

Artist Okuda San Miguel painted the murals.

Now called Kaos Temple, or simply La Iglesia Skate, the church’s benefactors include energy drink company Red Bull and online donors, who contributed more than $25,000 to the project. Crucial to the crowdsourcing campaign was the involvement of Spanish artist Okuda San Miguel, known for his brightly colored geometric art inspired by graffiti. In December 2015 he installed his bold murals, which feature humans, animals, and skull heads: It’s the same sort of graphic illustration you might expect to find on a skateboard or a T-shirt. San Miguel describes the church as his own “personal Sistine Chapel,” where upon gazing upwards, a worshiper sees not scenes from the Bible but images perfected over a lifetime of pop art and bold advertising. Though the building perhaps was never intended to be used in this manner, it certainly found its place within the skating community.

The skate park received funding through crowdsourcing and a sponsorship by Red Bull.