Our second day in Santa Fe started with a walking tour of the Historic District. Our hotel, the Inn and Spa at Loretto sits on the former site of the historic Our Lady of Loretto Academy and is adjacent to the famed Loretto Chapel featuring the miraculous staircase.
In 1873, the Sisters of the neighboring Loretto Academy started construction of a Chapel. Using the same French architect and builders as Saint Francis Cathedral Basilica, the Chapel of Our Lady of Light (as it was then known) was patterned after Archbishop Lamy’s favorite Sainte Chapelle in Paris. With its gothic-style architecture, the Chapel certainly would have stood out among the small adobe homes surrounding it at the time.
Unfortunately, the architect of the chapel died before access to the choir loft was built. Given the height of the loft and the small size of the Chapel, a staircase would have taken up too much floor space, thereby reducing the seating capacity to an unacceptably small level. Legend states that seeking guidance and help, the Sisters of Loretto prayed a nine day novena to St. Joseph, Patron Saint of Carpenters. A novena is a special prayer said for nine consecutive days. On the final day of the novena, a carpenter appeared with only a hammer and carpenter’s square. He built what is now known as the Miraculous Staircase with simple tools and wooden pegs. The rare wood is not native to the American Southwest. When the Staircase was complete, it is said that the carpenter disappeared without receiving thanks or payment. The Sisters tried all local lumber stores but could not find accounts open for supplies for their stairs. Some believe the carpenter was St. Joseph himself while others believe that is was someone sent by St. Joseph.
The Staircase has two complete 360 degree turns with no center pole for structural support. The entire weight of the staircase rests on the bottom stair. The banisters were added approximately ten years later due to the difficulty of climbing the tall, tapered stairs with no railing. The two small brackets that can be seen on the outside connecting the stairs to the wall and pillar were added in the mid 20th century in order to provide more support and protect the staircase from negative effects due to vibrations from passing cars and trucks. Unfortunately, rather than helping the structural integrity of the Staircase, the modern brackets damaged the sides of it by preventing the natural spring-like movement of the Staircase while in use. The underside of the stairs were originally open, but was filled in with a horse hair and lime mixture painted to look like wood.
Thus there are three mysteries surrounding the miraculous staircase, the identity of its builder, the type of wood used, and the physics of its construction.
Then we walked about a half a block to the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi.
Saint Frances was associated with the patronage of animals and the natural environment.
Influenced by the French-born Archbishop Lamy and in dramatic contrast to the surrounding adobe structures, Saint Francis Cathedral was designed in the Romanesque Revival style. As such, the cathedral features characteristic round arches separated by Corinthian columns and truncated square towers. The large rose window in front and those of the Twelve Apostles in the lateral nave windows were imported from Clermont-Ferrand in France. The towers were originally planned to be topped with dramatic 160-foot steeples, but due to lack of funds, these were never built. The north tower is a single row of bricks taller than the south tower. A 2005 addition to the upper façade of the cathedral is a small, round window featuring a dove, the symbol of the Holy Spirit. It is a stained glass replica of the translucent alabaster window designed in the 17th century by the Italian artist Bernini for St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.
St. Kateri Tekakwitha is the first Native American to be recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church, she was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on Oct. 21, 2012, 300 years after her death. Kateri was known as The Lily of the Mohawks (she was born into the Mohawk tribe in present day New York) She is the patroness of ecology and the environment, people in exile and Native Americans.
The front doors are made of bronze and tell the story of the church through intricately carved panels.
Located in the east end of the nave is the sanctuary. Above the altar is the San Damiano Crucifix, a replica of the crucifix in Assisi, Italy. The altar screen, a reredos, was created for the 100th anniversary of the Cathedral in 1986. In the center is an 18th-century statue of St. Francis. He is surrounded by painted images of saints of the New World. Directly behind the sanctuary is the entrance to the crypt.
There is a beautiful park right next to the church, known as Cathedral Park, that has a monuments that tells the history of New Mexico
From the park, we strolled through a few streets and beautiful courtyards, our local guide telling us about the art and the history we were seeing.
We passed by super fun, festive and colorful shop fronts.
We were led down a small walk way that opened up into a fun, open air market full of the most colorful souvenirs. But what is now a fun place to shop, was once a top secret research facility working nuclear weapons, known as the Manhattan Project.
109 East Palace is a very well known address to those in the know. When the top secret Manhattan Project was taking place, it was imperative that no one find out about it. But how do you get dozens of scientists, technicians, and other workers all to the same place without saying where they are going? The solution was to get everyone dropped off at 109 East Palace, an innocent-looking storefront. Unknown to the rest of the town, it was actually a portal into the secret mission of the atomic bomb.
From there, Dorothy Scarritt McKibbin would greet the workers, process them, and make sure they got on the secret bus to Los Alamos to work on the Manhattan Project on time. She herself became an integral part in the project and was a close confidant to Oppenheimer, also known as the father of the atomic bomb.
New Mexico has the most fascinating history. Even though we were there to learn about the atomic bomb, we couldn't help but take a quick look around at all the fun things for sale.
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