LogFAQs > #914370022

Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, NM has a unique feature: "The Miraculous Stair," which still impresses modern-day architects. According to the tale, in the 1880s, nuns were looking to hire a contractor, but none showed up. On the final day, after the nuns had prayed to St. Joseph, a stranger arrived and offered to take up the task. No one learned his name, and using only simple tools, he constructed a 20-foot-high, railless, helix-shaped staircase with no central support pillar. It was apparently so frightening for some to climb, nuns did so on their hands and knees. The architect's identity was later (possibly) revealed as a French rancher, murdered a decade and change after the work.
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Take me down from the ridge where the summer ends
And watch the city spread out just like a jet's flame