My last day in town I crossed the final few things off the list of "must sees":
Loretto Chapel:
The altar is not marble, it's concrete. Pretty convincing, though:
The reason Loretto Chapel is famous is this staircase:
The story goes that the nuns couldn't figure out a way to build a staircase to the choir loft in this tiny space. They said novenas for days, and on day 9, a carpenter showed up. He spent months building this staircase - a spiral staircase with no supports. It's a bit of an architectural miracle as no one can figure out how it stays up. After the staircase was finished, the carpenter disappeared as mysteriously as he had arrived. A carpenter performing miracles? Interesting.
Pretty window in the choir loft:
Next, off to San Miguel Mission, the oldest church in America. It's nearly 400 years old.
Right around the corner is the oldest house in America. Other than a sign pointing toward the house, no other information is given about this place. In fact, I'm not really sure this is the oldest house. But it looks pretty old.
And lastly, the New Mexico state capitol. A pretty unassuming building. I was surprised to see it didn't have a dome; it might be the first dome-less capitol I've seen.
While the building is pretty simple, it houses a $5 million art collection, showcasing works of New Mexican artists. The entire building is open to the public so everyone can see the art. I hung around in the Governor's Office, literally loitering outside his office door, but Governor Richardson was apparently not available to entertain me.
2 comments:
It doesn't have a dome, but it is a circular building. Don't see many of capitol buildings without corners.
I have been to that church with the staircase that was built with no support. The pictures don't do it justice, it really is very cool in person. And I think the story is pretty cool too.
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