Thread: The Miraculous Staircase

It was just a bored forum member looking for something to do on holiday.

Very interesting - thanks for posting. If you go to Google Images and search for "staircase loretto chapel" there are some great pictures of it.

Nathan.

loretto chapel staircase.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENjjspf2tN0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvid_KnFq7s

"Architects say that ... it should have crashed into the floor the minute someone put a step on it.
Yet it has been used daily for over 100 years.
The staircase railing was not part of the original construction, but added 2 years later."

Loretto-Chapel-Staircase.jpg

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=t...2F%3B236%3B165

Now for the realists/sceptics to have their say ...

The Mysterious Staircase (Analysis)

Helix to Heaven - CSI

snopes.com: Mysterious Staircase at Loretto Chapel

The Loretto Chapel staircase: A lesson in physics, not miracles

"Spiral and other winding staircases reached a high point in development in sixteenth-century England and France, with several “remarkable” examples ("Stair” 1960; “Interior” 1960). To appreciate the architectural and other problems such stairs present we must recognize that builders use turns in staircases to save space or to adapt to a particular floor plan. The simplest is the landing turn which is formed of straight flights joined at the requisite angle by a platform. A variation is the split landing which is divided on a diagonal into two steps.


Instead of a landing, the turn may be accomplished by a series of steps having tapered treads. Such staircases are called winders and include certain ornamental types, like that which takes the shape of a partial circle (known as circular stair) or an ellipse. An extreme form of winding staircase is a continuous winder in the form of a helix (a line that rises as it twists, like a screw thread). This is the popularly termed “spiral staircase” like the example at Loretto Chapel.


Helixes — unlike, say, pyramids — are not inherently stable weight-supporting structures. They require some kind of strengthening or support. Therefore, in addition to being secured at top and bottom, the spiral staircase is usually also braced by attachment along its height to a central pole or an adjacent wall.


Unfortunately, spiral and other winding staircases are not only problematic in design but are also fundamentally unsafe. Explains one authority, “For safety, any departure from a straight staircase requires careful attention to detail in design and construction.” Especially, “Because people tend to travel the shortest path around a corner, where a winder’s treads are narrowest, the traveler must decide at each step where each foot falls. This may be an intellectual and physical exercise best practiced elsewhere. In short, winders are pretty but inherently unsafe”.

Other experts agree. According to Albert G. H. Dietz, Professor Emeritus of Building Engineering at MIT, winders “should be avoided if at all possible. No adequate foothold is afforded at the angle [due to the tapering] and there is an almost vertical drop of several feet if a number of risers converge on the same point. The construction is dangerous and may easily lead to bad accidents”. As a consequence, winders are frequently prohibited by building codes. That is especially true of the spiral stair, which “contains all the bad features of the winder multiplied several times”.

Originally Posted by pmcgee

Loretto Chapel miraculous staircase - Santa Fe, New Mexico

Two mysteries surround the spiral staircase in the Loretto Chapel: ."

I am reliably informed that if you whip around fast enough you can see your own back in a mirror or, disappear up you own spiral staircase. Where it is claimed you can hear celestial choirs singing and immense amount of dollars clinking as wide eyed, well heeled punters line up to experince mysteries and miracles performed by simple, mexican? carpenters who specialise in building unsupported structures and carving Madonnas that weep blood in tourist destinations.

Originally Posted by pmcgee

... it should have crashed into the floor the minute someone put a step on it.

That sounds like one of my projects...

Originally Posted by pmcgee

The staircase railing was not part of the original construction, but added 2 years later.

Sounding more like one of my projects all the time...

Except for the fact that it didn't fall and it's a bloody marvelous piece of engineering and craftsmanship.

I know who did it, it was I'm sworn to secrecy..

Going on from the quote above about safety ... I remembered seeing a drawing (but forgotten the link) that said that the inner radius should be no smaller than twice the width of the stairs.

The same thing is repeated in many places ... https://www.google.com.au/search?q=r...m=122&ie=UTF-8

I'm guessing that has to do with the problem stated of the tread width reducing to nothing if the tread is the full shape of a sector of a circle.

Hasn't affected these guys, 'tho it would seem ... http://www.duvinage.com/files/public...rs_Catalog.pdf

I don't know what all the fuss is about. I have knocked up a couple of those on a Sunday afternoon.

Originally Posted by Doggie

I am reliably informed that if you whip around fast enough you can see your own back in a mirror or, disappear up you own spiral staircase. Where it is claimed you can hear celestial choirs singing and immense amount of dollars clinking as wide eyed, well heeled punters line up to experince mysteries and miracles performed by simple, mexican? carpenters who specialise in building unsupported structures and carving Madonnas that weep blood in tourist destinations.

A tradie turned up on time - must be a miracle.

Paul

That's absolutely amazing and thanks for posting it. If it orginally was minus the handrail it would have looked like something out of "Lord of the Rings."

Perhaps that's it. There was one ring to bind them!

Regards
Paul

I agree with the miracle being both the tradie turning up when needed...and the fact that he apparently accepted no payment for his work!!! That in itself is probably enough to create a new saint!

However, the staircase has been closed to foot traffic for several decades, so it sounds like it was one of the more fly-by-night tradies!

Now enough slagging tradies off
Some off us may take offense


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

Originally Posted by Master Splinter

However, the staircase has been closed to foot traffic for several decades, so it sounds like it was one of the more fly-by-night tradies!

Only closed to the public Splinter. It's a 'Flying Order' that runs Loretto, they just keep breezing up and down.

I'm particularly offended for the craftsman François-Jean Rochas who is documented as the builder. What do you want to bet that 'disappeared without asking for payment' was really 'gave up chasing payment'. Why else did he leave it without a banister? It's not like a bannister is a new invention.