Loretto Stairway to Heaven

by Paul LeSage

Title

Loretto Stairway to Heaven

Artist

Paul LeSage

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

The Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is a former Roman Catholic church, best known for its unusual helix-shaped spiral staircase (the "Miraculous Stair").

The Sisters of Loretto credited St. Joseph with its construction. It has been the subject of legend, and the circumstances surrounding its construction and its builder were considered miraculous by the Sisters of Loretto.

The staircase was built sometime between 1877 and 1881. By this point the chapel was substantially complete, but still lacking access to the choir loft, possibly due to the unexpected death of the architect, Projectus Mouly, in 1879.

According to the version of events passed down by the Sisters of Loretto, multiple builders were consulted but were not able to find a workable solution due to the confined quarters. In response, the nuns prayed for nine straight days to St. Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters. On the last day of the novena, a mysterious stranger appeared and offered to build the staircase. He worked alone using only a few simple hand tools and disappeared afterwards without collecting his pay or the Sisters learning his identity. More fantastical versions of the story have the work taking place overnight, while according to others it took six to eight months.

The Loretto Chapel "miraculous" spiral staircase, rises 20 feet (6.1 m) to the choir loft while making two full turns, all without the support of a newel or central pole. The staircase is built mostly out of wood and is held together by wooden pegs and glue rather than nails or other hardware. The exact wood used to build the staircase is unknown, although it has been confirmed to be a type of spruce, probably non-native to New Mexico.

In any event, the finished staircase was an impressive work of carpentry, seeming to defy physics without any obvious means of support. The Sisters of Loretto viewed its construction as a miracle and believed that the mysterious builder must have been St. Joseph himself. As the story spread, the staircase became one of Santa Fe's most famous tourist attractions.

Apart from any claims of its miraculous nature, the staircase has been described as a remarkable feat of woodworking. According to a Washington Post column by Tim Carter: "It's a magnificent work of art that humbles me as a master carpenter. To create a staircase like this using modern tools would be a feat. It's mind-boggling to think about constructing such a marvel with crude hand tools, no electricity and minimal resources. According to another professional carpenter, who was interviewed by Ben Radford for his book Mysterious New Mexico: "The execution is just incredible. The theory of how to do it, to bend it around in a two-turn spiral, that's some difficult arithmetic there.

The underside of the stairs were originally open, but was filled in with a horse hair and lime mixture painted to look like wood.

Loretto Chapel was used on a daily basis by the students and nuns of Loretto Academy until the school closed in 1968. It now remains a privately owned museum and wedding venue, while the rest of the Academy campus was demolished.

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August 17th, 2021

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