The Loretto Chapel

Home to the 'Wonderful Staircase', the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe is a previous Roman Catholic Church, now an exclusive exhibition hall and wedding house of prayer and one of the extraordinary attractions in Santa Fe. Initially known as Our Lady of Light Chapel, the asylum was worked for the Sisters of Loretto in 1872.

Planned by French planner Antoine Mouly, the house of prayer configuration depended on the Sainte-Chappelle in Paris and in exceptional complexity to the general adobe-style holy places of the locale.

In any case, the outline of the church and its lovely fancy recolored glass windows was not to be the significant draw card of the house of prayer – it was the helix-molded St. Joseph's Staircase that was to end up being the church's piéce de protection. The subject of puzzle and legend, the wooden winding staircase stands 20 feet tall, makes two 360 degree turns and has no inside help – an accomplishment of carpentry that was esteemed 'phenomenal'