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Just returned from our February "get out of winter" trip to New Mexico and Arizona and while in Santa Fe I visited, once again, the Miraculous Staircase in the Chapel of the Sister of Loretto. Here is the history if you don't know about this woodworking wonder.

http://www.lorettochapel.com/history.html

Here are some of my pictures:

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Pictures do not do it justice. If you are a woodworker - and on this site all of us are - you get goosebumps when you are up close and personal with this wonder of the Western world. Whoever built this staircase had no tools with an electric cord. Imagine what he or she could have done with a SS.

I always thought the casement beneath the stairs was figured wood. Not so. I learned it is plaster filled with horse hair and painted to look like burl wood.

I was inspired by this staircase back in the late 80's to look for, buy, and use hand tools. It expanded my wookworking experience and skills and I have been forever grateful to the gift it gave me.

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It is important to note, that the staircase was made without a railing which was added nine years after the steps were completed. They hired another carpenter to make the railing because it was too disconcerting to walk up the stair without a railing. The stairs are about 25 feet high. A staircase wasn't originally built because a ladder saved space and in times past only men sang in choirs. The Sisters wanted to include women in their choir.

Engineers have studied these stairs and offer several theories about what keeps them from collapsing. Unfortunately, none of the theories are totally satisfactory. Bottom line, no one knows what keeps the stairs up. While there, I viewed pictures in the museum with all choir members from the 1940s standing on the stairs for a picture, so they will hold considerable weight.

I guess I am posting this because the winter has been long and hard and we all need moments of inspiration.

Just as a side note, actor William Peterson of the TV show CSI once did a film about the staircase which was called, are you ready, "The Staircase"
Very interesting little film and worth a lokup on Google.
Bill V

Could there not be some type of iron supports hidden in the floor of the stairs between the steps the the horse hair/plaster?

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/ghosts/loretto.asp

This trys to explain how it stays up, but I'm not so sure

I like to think it is both natural and supernatural, which a miracle certainly is. It has organic, material presence which nature has, but it also oozes beauty, symmetry, purpose, and design which spirit is. It provides a wonderful mystery, something the modern mind too often seeks to debunk or destroy (thank you Snoopes, you make me sick). It is filled with beauty, even the plaster work. There is the awe fullness of the skills required to bend wood, calculate curvature and precision fit hand made pieces. It is wooden pegged with such precision that one engineering theory holds that this is what holds the stairs together. Are not masters of wood, or any material for that matter, bringing into existence something of the mind of God. It is a miracle.

WmZiggy wrote:I like to think it is both natural and supernatural, which a miracle certainly is. It has organic, material presence which nature has, but it also oozes beauty, symmetry, purpose, and design which spirit is. It provides a wonderful mystery, something the modern mind too often seeks to debunk or destroy (thank you Snoopes, you make me sick). It is filled with beauty, even the plaster work. There is the awe fullness of the skills required to bend wood, calculate curvature and precision fit hand made pieces. It is wooden pegged with such precision that one engineering theory holds that this is what holds the stairs together. Are not masters of wood, or any material for that matter, bringing into existence something of the mind of God. It is a miracle.

After a brief attempt at left-brained engineering analysis of the structure, I read your post. The right side of my brain absorbed your beautiful prose, grasped the wisdom, and convinced the left side that there is a greater truth, which one should not attempt to understand through mere analysis.

That is a very nice staircase. I think I would have a few years to go before I could ever and if ever create that. And yes the movie "Staircase" is good. Thanks for sharing this one.

The first 7 pictures in this series are of the Loretto Chapel as well. It is one of my favorite buildings in Santa Fe. The stained glass is amazing and the alter is wonderful.

If you're ever in Santa Fe, I would encourage you to visit the chapel. I've done so numerous times since the late '60s, and it never ceases to amaze.....