Loretto Chapel
Wedding chapel's mysterious spiral staircase said to be miraculously constructed
Category Architectural Oddities, Curious Places of Worship
The story goes something like this: Our Lady of Light Chapel was built for the Sisters of Loretto in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1872, but the Bishop in charge died of pneumonia in 1888 before he could finish it.
One of the most important elements left unfinished in the Gothic chapel was a way for the sisters to get to the choir loft from the chapel. While they could use a ladder to get to loft, due to their robes, they felt this was both inappropriate and dangerous. A conventional staircase would have taken too much space and marred the aesthetics of the space. With no other recourse, the sisters did what they do best, they prayed.
According they prayed for nine straight days -- to St. Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters -- for a solution to emerge, when a mysterious and shabby looking stranger appeared with a donkey in tow, and said he would build them a staircase. However, to do so, he needed total privacy and a few tubs of hot water. Using only very basic tools, he spent the next three months in the chapel building the magnificent spiral staircase, and then when it was finished, promptly disappeared before even being paid.
When the Sisters and others examined the stairs, they were shocked to see it was apparently holding itself up with no supports and was made of a non-native wood which they didn't know how or where the stranger had acquired it. To top it off, the stairs which were made with no nails, had exactly 33 stairs, the age at which Jesus was crucified. It was for the Sisters of Loretto, without question, a miracle.
The staircase is indeed a work of woodworking mastery. The twenty feet tall tightly wound stairs make two full 360 revolutions, and indeed have no central support, and to make such a staircase using only wooden dowels is an astonishing work of craftsmanship.
But for all the stairs beauty, there were some problems with the stairs that usually get left out of the story. Originally the stairs had no outer railing and the nuns, terrified of tripping, would crawl down the stairs on hands and knees (presumably after everyone had left the service) until a railing was added ten years later. (One has to wonder why someone would leave off an outside railing on a very tight spiral staircase meant to be used by nuns in flowing robes?)
While it is true that the stairs do not have a conventional straight central support, the tightly wound inner stringer functions as one. However this twisted central support had a downside, the stairs, built like a giant spring, also had a strong bounce to them, and left people feeling shaken before a brace was added along with the outer railing. Finally, the mysterious wood that the carpenter used: spruce. The carpenter and architect of the staircase remains unknown, though it has been attributed to German carpenter Johann Hadwiger, despite little evidence for this.
The staircase has been closed for general use since the 1970s, officially because of fire codes, but more likely because the relatively fragile staircase was suffering from overuse. Nonetheless, the chapel is a popular wedding destination, as a bride and groom can buy a small package deal Vegas-style wedding there, with only priest and two witnesses in attendance, or can pack the chapel with friends and relatives like a traditional wedding. For these events, the bride and groom may climb the first ten stairs of the staircase for photographs.
While it easy to dismiss the supernatural claims of the staircase, the stairs are still a work of beauty and craftsmanship that deserves respect on their own merits. In 1998 the story was turned into a CBS made for TV movie "The Staircase." How they turned the building of a spiral staircase into a two hour drama remains a mystery.
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- Hours Mon - Sat: 9-6; Sun: 10:30 - 5
- Website Loretto Chapel
- Address 207 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 87501, United States
- Cost Free
Comments
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Thanks for the heads up anon, correction was made!
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Anonymous
November 29, 2009
The part about the bishop being shot and killed by his nephew is pure bunk. Archbishop Lamy died peacefully of pneumonia in 1888. His nephew was involved with the murder of his wife's lover, but that is unrelated to Bishop Lamy himself. The nephew was tried and acquitted of the crime. -
my cousin got married here! my parents always bring up with an interesting/beautiful place it was for a wedding ceremony.
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Anonymous
October 14, 2009
I say this was built by Jesus himself.One day i will get to ask him. Gary C
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This is in Santa Fe New Mexico, USA...not Santa Fe Argentina South America.
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