The Loretto Chapel is one of the most beautiful chapels I have visited. We stopped in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on our recent western adventure.
The chapel was finished in 1881. The stone is local and the stained-glass windows came from Europe traveling the Santa Fe Trail by way of Kansas City.
At first, the chapel had no stairs to the choir loft so the only way up was to use a ladder. A mysterious carpenter appeared one day to build the staircase to the loft.
The circular staircase has no center pole or any external supports, which is very difficult to make.
There are mysteries around the building of the miraculous staircase. Learn all about them when you visit.
There are many shops, fine-art galleries, and restaurants within easy walking distance of the chapel.
We ate lunch at Thunderbird Bar & Grill down the street, we enjoyed it a lot.
The shop directly across the street from the chapel features Native American art. We found a wonderful work by the artist Ernest Watchman there.
Donald Anderson