The Mystery Behind Loretto Chapel Staircase

In Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Loretto Chapel was once a Roman Catholic church. Today, it serves as both a wedding chapel and a museum.

The “Miraculous Stair” is a unique spiral staircase with a helix shape that is well-known. It has become a legend, and the Sisters of Loretto, who attributed its creation to St. Joseph, believed that the circumstances surrounding it and its builder were miraculous.

The Loretto Chapel Staircase

The “Miraculous Stair,” a helix-shaped staircase that rises 20 feet (6.1 m) to the choir loft and makes two complete revolutions without the use of a central pole or newel, is the most famous feature of Loretto Chapel. The majority of the staircase is made of wood, and it is kept together without the use of glue, nails, or other hardware by wooden pegs.

The longer outer stringer has nine segments, while the inner stringer is made up of seven wooden segments fastened together with pegs. It has been established that the precise kind of spruce that was used to construct the staircase is not found in New Mexico and has not been identified anywhere else in the globe by scientists.

There are thirty-three steps here, which is said to represent the age of Christ at the moment of his death.

Later, in 1887, handrails were built, and to provide more support, an iron bracket was subsequently fastened to a column. An interior wood stringer supports the staircase. Putting aside claims to its supernatural qualities, the staircase has been called an amazing piece of woodworking.

History or Mystery of the Staircase

The staircase was constructed sometime in the years 1877–1881. The chapel was almost finished by this time, but access to the choir loft was still unavailable—possibly as a result of Projectus Mouly, the architect, passing away unexpectedly in 1879.

The story told by the Sisters of Loretto states that although several builders were consulted, the small space prevented them from coming up with a practical solution. In response, the nuns prayed to St. Joseph, the carpenter’s patron saint, nonstop for nine days.

A mysterious man showed up on the final day of the novena and offered to construct the staircase. Using only a few basic hand tools, he worked alone. When he was done, he vanished without collecting his fee or disclosing his identity to the Sisters.

In some fanciful retellings of the narrative, the job was completed in a single night, but others claim it took six or eight months.

Once completed, the staircase was a remarkable feat of carpentry that seemed to defy gravity as it ascended 20 feet (6.1 m) without the need for any evident support. The Sisters of Loretto thought that St. Joseph himself must have been the enigmatic constructor, considering its construction to be a miracle. The stairway rose to fame as one of Santa Fe’s most well-known tourist destinations as word of the tale spread.

There were no handrails on the staircase when it was first constructed, and some nuns and students were said to have descended it on their hands and knees because it was so terrifying. Finally, in 1887, another artisan named Phillip August Hesch constructed railings. Since the chapel was turned into a privately owned museum in the 1960s, the steps have been largely off-limits to the general public.