The miraculous scale
A spiral staircase that turns twice on itself without having a central pillar to support it. A mystery never solved
In the city of Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States, there is a chapel called Loreto.
This Chapel for almost 130 years has kept a mystery and welcomes thousands of visitors who come every year to see the wonder of the staircase.
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The miraculous scale of "Our Lady of the Light"
In 1852, some sisters went to Santa Fe in the midst of a population composed in the majority of Mexicans and Indians and, in this city, built a chapel which was later placed under the protection of St. Joseph.
On completion of work, the sisters realized that inside the building there was no connection between the forum and the choir, placed on different floors.
The sisters asked many carpenters to solve the problem but, taking into account the height of the stand that was on the top floor, they said it was difficult if not impossible to install a scale. The space was insufficient; the alternative was to build a ladder or rebuilding the entire gallery.
So the sisters, to solve the problem, they turned through a novena to St. Joseph was a carpenter and then, with confidence, waited for the help of Divine Providence. And just in the last day of the novena, a stranger knocked on the door of the Chapel. He said he was a carpenter and could build the staircase. The man had only a saw, a hammer and a team T.
According to the testimony of the nuns he built it without the help of anyone. The strange carpenter instead of the nails used wooden pins and buckets of water in which dipped pieces of wood. The scale is still considered a carpentry prodigy.
After work after six months, the carpenter disappeared without leaving footprints on his journey. Even he expected to be paid.
Sister Mother Madeleine, to honor the debt, went to the local sawmill to pay both the carpenter and the wood used. But no one knew neither the man who had done the work, nor the existence of a document that check the purchase of wood used to build the staircase.
The legend told in the city of Santa Fe, it leads one to believe that the carpenter was St. Joseph sent by Jesus Christ to meet the sisters' prayers. So the scale began to be called "miraculous" and turned into a center of pilgrimage.
This story of the miraculous highlight three mysteries scale:
- The first, to this day do not know the name of the man who built the staircase.
- The second mystery, architects, engineers, scientists say they do not understand how the scale is balanced, indeed would have collapsed to the ground in the moment that the first ascent was on the first step. However it was used daily for over a hundred years. The staircase is a masterpiece composed of two complete spirals on themselves.
Unlike most of the spiral staircase has no central pillar to support it. Which means that it is suspended without any support? All his weight rests on the first step.
Another surprising thing: the pillar curves are perfect in every piece of the ladder. Well, how it was it possible to realize such a perfect job in 1870, by one man, in an isolated place and with rudimentary tools.
The steps used for more than a century, they show signs of wear only on the edge.
- The third mystery raises the question of where the timber originates. All analyzes have argued that there is nothing like it in the region.
Last detail: the staircase has 33 steps, the age of Jesus Christ.
