Santa Fe, New Mexico.

This week, Michelle W. asks us to share an image that reflects “against the odds”. From the challenge post, “Maybe it’s a photo of an unlikely occurrence. Maybe it’s the photo itself that goes against the odds.” You can read the entire challenge post here. Remembering a trip to Santa Fe last spring, I thought of the magnificent spiral staircase in a chapel we visited there and the miracle that surrounds its construction.

The Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, was completed in 1878. Unfortunately, one minor detail was missing. There was no way to get to the choir loft, some 22-feet (6.7 m) from the chapel floor. Unfortunately, any stairway the designers could think of would take too much floor space from use by worshipers. Thus begins the tale of the miracle of the staircase.

Calling upon the patron saint of carpenters, St. Joseph, the Sisters of the Chapel prayed for a solution. On their ninth day of prayer, a man with a toolbox and a donkey appeared, looking for work. The sisters hired him and months later, the carpenter vanished after having completed the circular staircase. He left without so much as a thank you for his compensation. Some believe it was St. Joseph, himself, who came and built this magnificent staircase.

Built without nails and using only wooden pegs to support the underpinnings, the circular staircase has no visible vertical supports. The staircase spirals upward with two 360-degree turns from the church floor to to base of the loft.

Today, the chapel is a private museum that offers tours of the chapel and grounds and provides a venue for weddings and other appropriate gatherings. The information about the staircase was found on the chapel’s website here.

John Steiner

Last week we spent some time in our Santa Fe trip visiting churches and art galleries. This week, we continue our walk around the old city with stops at the State Capitol Building and the Governor’s Palace and Museum. Santa Fe has held the title of Capital City since 1610 when it became the capital city of the Kingdom of New Mexico, a Spanish colony. When the territory won its independence from Spain as part of Mexican Independence, the Mexican government named Santa Fe as the capital of Nuevo Mexico, then in 1846 when the territory became part of the United States, the Governor’s Palace became the territorial capitol. Visitors today will find the Governor’s Palace is now a museum and the State Capitol Building is the only round capitol building in the country.

The four-story building has a stained glass rotunda ceiling resembles a basket weave design in Native American crafts. The design depicts the earth and the sky. The central rotunda is three stories tall and the fourth story is underground beneath the travertine floor of the rotunda.

The Travertine from New Mexico features a mosaic of the New Mexico State Seal. The view of the seal in the photo above is captured from the third floor of the building. One of the features of the building is the Capitol Art Collection. Over 600 pieces in the art collection are displayed in the public areas of the building and grounds. More photos of the Capitol are included in the gallery that accompanies this post.

The Palace of the Governors was the seat of government for the Spanish territory in what was to become the American Southwest.  The 17th century adobe structure is now a part of the larger New Mexico History Museum, housed in a modern building adjacent to the Palace. In the photo above, a portrait of an early Governor stands watch over the Governor’s desk and chair.

An old stage is one of the exhibits in the Governor’s Palace. The old building features many exhibits of early New Mexican artifacts. The palace is not a large museum, so it won’t take long to browse through the exhibits. From the palace, a short walk through a courtyard will take you to the much larger New Mexico History Museum.

The museum is divided into several sections, as are most museums. It would be easy to spend an afternoon or all day here, but we would soon be on our way. A few more exhibits are included in the gallery of images below. Unfortunately, it was time for us to leave.

After a short walk through town on a crisp, cool fall day to the depot, we browsed the gift shop while we sipped on hot coffee and awaited the arrival of the Rail Runner for our trip home. Just for fun, I included a couple of photos taken from the train windows on our trip home. We even happened to catch part of a rainbow. The lights in the train car and the reflections in the train window notwithstanding, I don’t mind sharing the photos of the New Mexican countryside, even though they aren’t my best work. You’ll find them in the gallery below.

On this week’s Travel Tuesday, I featured the first of two posts focusing on Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico. Many of the city’s attractions are within walking distance of the one or the other of two rail line stops. The commuter line began service in 2006 between Albuquerque and Bernalillo. By 2008, the line extended to Santa Fe. Today the line extends over 80 miles from Los Lunas to Santa Fe, a two-hour trip.

The line has a history of financial issues, as does most commuter rail in less urban areas like New Mexico. Cost overruns and operating expenses have left some doubts as to the line’s financial viability as a a state-funded system. Commuters, however, find it an attractive alternative to driving, especially those who live in Albuquerque but work in Santa Fe.

On our trip, we were greeted by friendly staff and our one-hour ride from northern Albuquerque to Santa Fe and return was a pleasant and enjoyable diversion from the normal drive on I-25. Our trip to Santa Fe is featured in two Travel Tuesday episodes, the first of which is here.

John Steiner

The oldest state capital in the United States was born under a much longer name, La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asis (The Royal Town of the Holy Faith of St. Francis of Assisi.) That according to Wikipedia. Fortunately, somewhere along the line, the name was shortened to simply Santa Fe.

My wife, Lynn, and I traveled to Albuquerque last October to participate in a small family gathering with my sister, a niece and nephews from the midwest. One of our outings was led by my sister’s friend, a man who spent much of his working life in Santa Fe at the state capitol. He offered to be our tour guide to the oldest city in New Mexico. The heart of Santa Fe is easily walkable, so instead of taking two vehicles to get there, we rode the Rail Runner Express. The train makes a 100-mile run several times a day from Santa Fe to Belen with 14 stops along the way. We boarded the train at a nearby stop where there are park-and-ride places.

As might be surmised by the city’s original name, the community was, and is, a community of churches. Probably the most notable, and one of the oldest, built in 1610, rebuilt several times, finally in 1714 the new church was named for the Patron Saint of Santa Fe, St. Francis of Assisi. Part of that old church still exists, surrounded by the cathedral that was built around it in 1869 through 1887. All but a small adobe chapel of the old church was then dismantled and carried out in pieces through the front door.

The church was elevated to the status of Basilica by Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. Those interested in the history and other details of the Basilica can find it on their webpage here. The photo above is a view of the main altar.

The altar of the original adobe chapel features the oldest statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the United States. Had I known of the historical significance of La Conquistadora, I would have captured a closer image than the one above. The statue at the top is about 3-feet (1-meter) tall and is carved of wood. Modified over the years and given articulating arms so the statue could be dressed in real vestments, “Our Lady of the Rosary, La Conquistadora” came to the United States, eventually arriving in Santa Fe in 1625. A more complete history of this 400 year-old statue can be found here. The gallery of images included with this post features more interior shots of the Basilica.

Our next stop on our tour of Santa Fe features another church located at the end of the Old Santa Fe Trail. The chapel, built for the school operated by the Sisters of Loretto in 1873 through 1878, is known for its unique staircase. No longer an active church, the Loretto Chapel is now operated as a private museum.

The Miraculous Staircase was built sometime in the late 1870s. Its unique design features two 360 degree turns with no center support. The staircase is over 20-feet (6-meters) tall, rests on the floor and against the choir loft. The staircase is held together with wooden pegs, no glue or nails and consists of 33 identical risers. More about the Sisters of Loretto, the chapel and the amazing staircase can be found here.

Santa Fe is an artists community so no visit to the city, even on this cloudy, somewhat rainy day, would be complete without a tour of several art galleries. Since most galleries don’t take kindly to photography, suffice it to say that our visit to the galleries exposed us to some amazing artwork. The image above is the entrance to one of the galleries we visited.

Next week, our walking tour of Santa Fe continues with a visit to the Governor’s Palace and Museum as well as a stop at the State Capitol building. The gallery of images below features more photos of the churches and downtown area we visited. Click on an image to enlarge it and to scroll through the gallery.

John Steiner