Loretto Chapel

Gothic Revival chapel famous for its inexplicable spiral staircase

A small Gothic Revival church built in 1873 for the Sisters of Loretto and now a private museum and wedding chapel. The reason to visit is the so-called Miraculous Staircase, a wooden spiral that ascends two complete turns to the choir loft without any visible central support and apparently without nails — a piece of carpentry that has fascinated visitors for a century and a half.

Entry is modest and the visit is short. The chapel sits just off the Plaza on Old Santa Fe Trail. Best combined with the Cathedral Basilica next door.

things to do sight architecture
A story
The Loretto staircase rises 6 metres in two complete turns with no central support and no nails. The Sisters of Loretto told a story of an anonymous carpenter who showed up after nine days of prayer to Saint Joseph, built the staircase, and disappeared without payment. Modern engineers have studied it and call it remarkable but not impossible — the wood joints carry the load.