The Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA is a former Roman Catholic church that is now used as a museum and wedding chapel. It is known for its unusual helix shaped spiral staircase (the "Miraculous Stair").

It has been the subject of legend and rumor, and the circumstances surrounding its construction and its builder are considered miraculous by the Sisters of Loretto and many visitors. The story was the subject of the 1998 movie The Staircase, starring Barbara Hershey and William Petersen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loretto_Chapel

Below: Two MODELS of the staircase - The railing was added 10 years after it was built. The two RV Gypsies could not even imagine walking up a spiral staircase without a railing.

Below: The two RV Gypsies by the Miraculous Spiral Staircase at Loretta Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The staircase ascends twenty feet, making two complete revolutions up to the choir loft without the use of nails or apparent center support. It has been surmised that the central spiral of the staircase is narrow enough to serve as a central beam. Nonetheless there was no attachment onto any wall or pole in the original stairway, although in 1887 -- ten years after it was built -- a railing was added and the outer spiral was fastened to an adjacent pillar. Instead of metal nails, the staircase was constructed using dowels or wooden pegs.

The legend claims that the mystery had never been satisfactorily solved as to who the carpenter was or where he got his lumber, and that there were no reports of anyone seeing lumber delivered or even seeing the man come and go while the construction was being done. Since he left before the Mother Superior could pay him, the Sisters of Loretto offered a reward for the identity of the man, but it was never claimed.

Below: The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is the mother church of the dioceses of the southwest of our country and it is rightly called the heart of Santa Fe. This beautiful Cathedral Basilica is holy ground made holy not only by the building materials and the images of the Saints, but by the deep Catholic faith of those who built it and who have worshipped here for many years The parish is 400 years old, making it one of the longest established Christian congregations in the country!.

Kateri Tekakwitha in Mohawk, baptized as Catherine Tekakwitha and informally known as Lily of the Mohawks (1656 - April 17, 1680), was an Algonquin-Mohawk Catholic virgin and religious laywoman. Born in present-day New York, she survived smallpox and was orphaned as a child, then baptized as a Roman Catholic and settled for the last years of her life at the Jesuit mission village of Kahnawake, south of Montreal in New France.

Tekakwitha professed a vow of virginity until her death at the age of 24. Known for her virtue of chastity and corporal mortification of the flesh, as well as being shunned by her tribe for her religious conversion to Catholicism, she is the first Native American woman to be venerated in the Roman Catholic Church. She was beatified by Blessed Pope John Paul II in 1980. On February 18, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI announced at Saint Peter's Basilica that Tekakwitha is scheduled to be formally canonized on October 21, 2012. Various miracles and supernatural events are attributed to her name after her death.

Below: The two RV Gypsies enjoyed several other sites in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The two RV Gypsies stayed at the Santa Fe KOA. The lady at the front desk was very nice, The Wi-Fi was very slow. The two RV Gypsies did not use many facilities in the parks. They were hardly ever there except to sleep at night.

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