Chapel of Our Lady of the Snows, Catholic chapel at Belgrano II Base, Coats Land, Argentine Antarctica

The Chapel of Our Lady of the Snows is a small Catholic chapel carved within an ice cave near the Argentine Belgrano II research station. The structure provides a religious space for ceremonies and worship services held for base personnel throughout the year.

The original Belgrano base opened in the 1950s on unstable ice and had to be rebuilt; Belgrano II opened in 1979 on about a hectare of ice-free land nearby. The chapel was built at this second base, when a system of underground tunnels was excavated in the ice. It falls under the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bahía Blanca.

The chapel falls under the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bahía Blanca, far from Antarctica, with Carlos Azpiroz Costa as Archbishop and Pedro Ernesto Fournau as Auxiliary Bishop. Since 1996 Argentina's Antarctic chapels have kept consecrated hosts in permanent tabernacles, tended by extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist appointed by the military bishop. The first Catholic Mass in Antarctica was said by Jesuit Felipe Lérida on 20 February 1946 at the Orcadas observatory.

Access to the chapel is only possible through the research station and remains available year-round for base personnel. Visitors should know that extreme cold and ice conditions affect accessibility, so proper protective equipment is essential.

The chapel lies at 77.87°S, about 800 miles from the South Pole, and falls under the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bahía Blanca in Argentina, with Carlos Azpiroz Costa as Archbishop and Pedro Ernesto Fournau as Auxiliary Bishop. It is one of eight churches on the continent, four of them Catholic.