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In the center of the American city of Santa Fe, New Mexico there is an interesting architectural monument – the so-called chapel Loretto, which was previously active Roman Catholic the church. Today it is a museum and at the same time a place where are marrying citizens. But the main thing is what the chapel is famous for. Loretto – this is her unusual spiral staircase, about creating which is narrated by an old legend.
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… Antoine Mouli, a French architect who designed the design of the building, died during its lengthy construction, not having managed to set out his plans to the end. At the time of the death of Muli (1877) the interior decoration of the church was almost completed, was not enough only the stairs leading to the choirs where they were supposed to be located singers and musicians.
Fairly narrow interior space and high location choirs excluded the construction of a standard staircase, and a side there was, of course, no place. Not knowing what to do, the nuns began pray to St. Joseph the Worker, patron saint of carpenters and other things artisans.
Their prayers, apparently, were heard, since after a few days a man appeared on the threshold of the church, who declared that he would erect good staircase. The stranger made one condition: he work will be alone and secretly from everyone.
Three months later, the work was completed, and the master, who did not give his name, collected simple tools and disappeared, leaving after me a highly unusual spiral staircase.
A photo from open sources
The nuns were struck by the appearance of this building: a staircase, made of wood of an unknown breed (materials got the carpenter himself), as if hanging in the air. Deprived of central columns and unattached to the wall, she seemed to have to was sure to collapse … However, the design, created, by the way, without a single nail and even without glue, it was simply fantastic durability. The nuns wanted to thank the craftsman, but could not to find him: an amazing carpenter disappeared without a trace, and no one could tell where he went.
Who created this mysterious spiral staircase?
By the way, the railing that we are observing now is a ladder for safety and convenience equipped ten years after it erection, but from this it did not become less spectacular and beautiful.
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It is clear that in the mysterious appearance of a brilliant master and his the miraculous work of believers saw God’s providence. Unlike from them, materialistic scientists have become what is called, “dig” under the carpenter. At the end of the last century, they succeeded to relate certain known facts and based on them conclude: an extraordinary staircase created by François-Jean Rocha, a French carpenter, who left his homeland shortly before the events described in the legend. Were evidence is also found that Rocha, who lived in New Mexico, in 1895 was shot. Perhaps he spent on the run for many years (this explains his unwillingness to advertise his personality), however, could not escape the persecution.
A photo from open sources
However, the legend about the master sent by God of wooden affairs and version of modern scholars about a French emigrant carpenter equally unprovable. According to independent researchers, Rocha is not possessed a sufficiently high skill, which is attributed to him, to create a staircase so fantastic in design, without a single nail and glue. By the way, let’s say that this staircase assembled from wooden parts of a special shape, created and then collected so finely and accurately that such a calculation experts cannot repeat even on a modern computer. At this is all this “air” design, which holds only thanks to the lower and upper mount, without touching the walls, not shaky and does not even creak for more than a century. Besides where Francois-Jean Rocha was able to take this mysterious wood for her, grade which researchers cannot determine so far. Sort of spruce, but of some unknown breed, but nothing like that nearby did not grow. Something similar is found only in Alaska, but the northern spruce is still not quite the same, why the wood, from which built a unique spiral staircase in the chapel of the city Santa Fe is most often called the Loretto tree …
