My husband K and I got up at 8 after a much more comfortable night temperature-wise than Taos.
When we went out to the lobby at 8:45 for breakfast, we found that it was not nearly as fancy as Taos, but this was an Econo Lodge. Yes, the breakfast room was really part of the lobby. I was going to just get cereal, but the lady working the pan on the hot plate asked me about eggs. So, I had an omelet. Nothing fancy, but fine. Happily, bananas were available.
When we headed out to the car, we noticed how different this Econo Lodge was from the ones of old back East. The facade had Southwestern elements and there were pots of flowers and a cool stone water fountain/fall.
When we left at 9:55 with 25654 on the odometer it was 76° with a heat advisory in effect.
As we drove up toward the city center, we passed a Chili's, which seemed really nuts for the area. All that authentic food and you want Chili's? It's like the people who go to Epcot and insist on eating at the American pavilion.
Today was set to start off with a bunch of churches/ former churches. At 10:22 (25661), we parked near the Visitor Center. Parking was theoretically only for the center, but there were plenty of spots. Plus, our first stop was rather brief.
Our destination was San Miguel Chapel (St. Michael the Archangel), the oldest church in the US, whose founding was in 1610. They only do Mass on the first Sunday of the month at 3 pm and it is now privately owned, probably due to the cost of upkeep and the order that founded it keeping possession. The exterior immediately reminded us of the two churches we visited up in Taos.
The church website has this:
San Miguel Chapel is the oldest Catholic Church built in the United States part of whose original walls are still standing and which is still used regularly for religious services. It is the centerpiece of El Barrio de Analco National Register Historic District in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Adobe buildings like this chapel, historically, were not exclusively used for worship and ceremonies. Their size and location within the community allowed for a variety of gatherings.
During the 400+ years, first under the rule of imperial Spain, then Mexico, and finally the USA, the Chapel, dedicated to Archangel Michael, has been many things to many people. It has served as a place of worship for diverse groups of Native Americans; an infirmary for Franciscan missionaries; a target for autocratic officials and exploited Pueblo groups; a military chapel; a unique venue for talks, concerts, celebrations and ceremonies; and a sanctified space for Sunday Mass in Latin and English. Today and into the future, this treasured, privately owned, but ever-fragile structure requires constant vigilance and expert use of traditional construction methods and culturally authentic materials.
San Miguel Chapel first appears in the surviving historical written record in 1628. Construction my have begun by 1610 according to oral history, simultaneous with, or prior to, the official founding of Santa Fe. According to archeologists, this Franciscan-designed house of worship rests upon an early Pueblo settlement from circa 800-1300 CE.
The narrow church has an altarpiece that is rather impressive. It looks old but well-preserved. Turned out that it had been restored from a 19th century whitewashing. The church website has this history of the piece:
From 1710 to the end of the century, a simple all-adobe altar arrangement featuring decorative painting and a two-tiered niche with the statue of Archangel Michael above, and a tabernacle below held meaning in the Chapel.
In 1798, Lieutenant Jose Antonio Ortiz gifted the present carved and painted wooden altar screen. This trend-shifting piece is attributed, along with seven others, to the Laguna Santero – name unknown. Between 1801 and 1809 this anonymous craftsman created the exquisite altar setting as Laguna Pueblo’s San Jose de Gracia, and another for the imposing church at neighboring Pueblo San Esteban de Acoma.
The Statue of Archangel Michael: duly equipped with silver helmet and sword, but missing his emblematic scales of justice – dates no later that 1709, when it was carried throughout New Mexico to solicit donations for the Chapel’s 1710 reconstruction. The flanking New Mexican-made bultos (sculpted, painted, wooden saints) were donated by a 20th century patron, as were the hide-paintings on the side walls of the nave – portable visual aides for itinerant missionaries.
An inventory from 1776 lists “eight not very large oil paintings on canvas of saints” surrounding the statue; the current four may be part if that set. In the 1860s, when the chapel became an oratory for the French teaching order enlisted by Bishop Lamy, five layers of white paint concealed the colors of the retablo. For 70 years, the place of honor on their “neo-Gothic” altar was occupied by the Byzantine-style Our Lady Of Perpetual Help, blessed by Pope Leo XIIIi n 1887.
They also identify the folks on the altarpiece:
Artworks on the Altar Screen
(From viewers’ left to right, bottom to top)
Bulto #1: unidentified saint, New Mexico, XIX
Bulto #2: Archangel Michael/San Miguel, New Spain, XVIII
Bulto #3: likely Saint Anthony/San Antonio. New Mexico, early XIX
All from the Viceroyalty of New Spain, XVIII:
Oval #1: Saint Francis of Assisi/San Francisco
Oval #2: Saint Louis IX, King of France/San Luis Rey
Oval #3: Saint Terese=a of Avila/Santa Teresa
Oval #4: Saint Clare of Assisi/ Santa Clara
(Contemporary of Saint Francis and co-founder of the Franciscan order of
nuns, the Poor Clares (This portrait was previously identified as Santa
Gertrudis/Gertrude the Great of Germany)
Painting #1: Christ the Nazarene/Jesus Nazareno (New Spain, XIX restored)
Painting #2: Archangel Michael/San Miguel (New Mexico, c.1755, restored)
An early work by Spanish-born artist, mapmaker, and civic leader
Bernardo Miera y Pacheco (1713-1785, commissioned and gifted to the
ChaPel by patron Manuel Saenz de Garvisu)
They've done some excavations near the altar and found evidence of the structures that had been here previously.
The ceiling beams just speak of age. One has the date of 1710 and the names of the Spanish rulers of the area who restored the church.
Before leaving, I donated $5 to their restoration funds.We walked back to the car and were headed out again at 10:44.
At 10:57, we were parked in the relatively centrally located Sandoval Parking. We parked toward the east on the open top and saw a really fine old theater being renovated. It was the Lensic Theater at 211 West San Francisco Street. wikipedia notes:
The pseudo-Moorish, Spanish Renaissance Lensic was built by Nathan Salmon and E. John Greer and opened on 24 June 1931. Its name derives from the initials of Greer's six grandchildren.
We passed Santa Fe Trails Fine Art with its incredible collection of metal statues and its chili peppers hanging around a door. As much as he likes moose, K could not be convinced we need one for the front yard.
At about 11:18, we were standing across the street from Loretto Chapel, which was built in 1873. Here was a great view of the edifice. Crossing the street, we could see more detail.
Walking around to the entrance in that adobe building, we saw lovely plantings of yarrow and English lavender.
Since this is no longer a Catholic church (the sacred relics were removed before the sale), but rather is privately owned and used for weddings and special events and tourists, there was an entrance fee. We were able to get the senior rate of $4 each. The Sisters of Loretto closed their Loretto Academy, a girls' school, in 1968. Evidently, a private buyer was easier to find than getting the Archdiocese of Santa Fe to take it over.
Besides being lovely- as you'll see in a minute- why does anyone go here? This:
The chapel is lovely, bright, and very white. The color in the room comes from some gold, stained glass, and wood. The altar still has statues of Mary and St. Joseph on either side of it.
As I sat in the front view listening to a taped presentation on the chapel and its miraculous stairway, I looked to my left and was thrilled to see St. Catherine of Alexandria, my patron saint, in stained glass. I also noticed stained glass windows on either side of the altar with the symbols of the four Gospel writers. Other windows were simply geometric.
There was a lovely statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which brought to mind my confirmation saint, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, who was the one who spread the devotion to the Sacred Heart. So, I felt that both of my saints were here. I was surprised to see votive candles, though, since this is no longer a Catholic church. Of course, it is odd that the Stations of the Cross are here, but those might be considered art.
It was time to look at the famous stairway. It doesn't seem as big a deal now,with those railings. However, without them, I'd feel quite terrified climbing it. No wonder the girls complained and asked for the stairway to have railings. There is a photo to show what it looked like before the railings.
Being Gothic, there was a lovely rose window in the back.
There was a gift shop, of course, a rather large one. I found more baptism items and a few religious items (nothing with either of my saints on it), as well as postcards.
At 11:55, we left and walked to our next destination. The path took us through a parking lot, where we saw the variety of New Mexico license plates. A bit farther, and we had beautiful trumpet creepers, followed by a nice view of the side of the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi.
Like the Loretto Chapel, this mother church of the Diocese of Santa Fe was built at the direction of Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy. The site had been the home of a church, that had been destroyed in the 1680 Pueblo Revolt. This Romanesque-Revival style church was built from 1869-1886. There were supposed to be dramatic steeples, but they ran out of money, I rather like them as they are.
As we looked around the courtyard, there were lovely flowers (petunias and daylilies), as well as statues. One that we could see from below the retaining wall and it was Archbishop Lamy, the builder of the church. St. Francis of Assisi was represented, since the church is dedicated to him. The most modern sculpture was that of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American to be named a saint. Even though she was a Mohawk, a tribe far, far from the Native Americans of the Southwest, her presence seems appropriate to me.
The doors of the cathedral were quite impressive. According to Wikipedia:
During the restoration of 1986, new doors were created, each with ten
bronze panels that portray events in the history of the church in Santa
Fe. Donna Quasthoff was the commissioned sculptor.
The baptismal font seemed very modern, especially considering when the building was built. I thought that it was a nice combo of traditional and modern. Wikipedia explained why it looked modern (the octagonal shape is traditional, by the way):
The baptismal font is in the center of the nave. Made of Brazilian granite, it was dedicated on June 3, 2001, by Most Rev. Michael J. Sheehan. The eight-sided form represents the 8th day, or Easter, marking God's New Creation through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.[4] The basin is a cruciform, with three steps representative of the 3 days between Jesus' crucifixion and his resurrection. The rill symbolizes the four Evangelists, who cast their nets to catch men. Its location directly between the doors and the altar is representative of the faith journey.
There were other visitors, of course, but it was not difficult to make our way up to say a prayer in a pew before going up to see the altar a bit closer.
The sanctuary was interesting. The altar itself was the smallest I've ever seen. The altarpiece had a lot of saints that I was unfamiliar with. The crucifix was the San Damiano Cross, a replica of the crucifix in Assisi, before which St. Francis prayed. It was only when seeing this from the side, that I realized the head of Jesus is tilted to look out, not down.
To the left were three chairs with a fancy awning above the middle one. That was the seat of the archbishop of Santa Fe. It looked rather narrow to me.
Since being named a basilica is a pretty big deal. there was a placque about it. From the altar, we had a nice view of the rose window and organ pipes in the back.
There was a kind of plaque explaining why there were the words from the call-and-response prayer in the Stations of the Cross running around the base of the ceiling at the altar.
While we were up at the front, we saw the nice design on the front of the pews.
As we headed for the front door, I noticed the Stations of the Cross, as well as the beautiful ceiling.
Back outside, we saw a cool labyrinth.
The garden to the side of the church made a really nice little city garden/park.
Nearby was a shop that I'd seen on a city tourist map- The Shop, A Christmas Store. As expected, plenty of the items were made in China. But, there were some made by locals and I picked out a Nativity for my collection, as well as an ornament of the Zia symbol for the sun that is on the state flag.
We passed through the main plaza of the city,w hich had lots of people, including a Native American in full regalia. There was a bandstand and a group was coming in. Leaving the plaza, we came upon this interesting plaque.
It was now 1:10 and definitely time for lunch. Tia Sophias had been recommended to us. So, we went there. It is pretty much a diner or luncheonette run by a family.
I got a Coke Zero, while K settled for water. I felt the Coke could better handle the heat of Southwestern food. Of course, they asked us if we wanted red or green or Christmas and we already knew this referred to the chili sauces. I think the green is milder, but what I've read says the opposite.
K ordered the Thursday Special- Carne Adovada ( pork marinating in red chili ), which cost $14. I chose Atrisco Plate- green chili stew, yellow corn enchilada, and beans and posole for #13.50. Although, there was no enchilada. We wisely chose to get sopapillas for $1 to cut the heat. The meal was delicious and definitely filling. We wound up closing the place down, since 2 was the official closing time.
When we stepped outside at 2:08, I noticed how Western the town looked here with with its covered sidewalks.
At 2:17, we entered the New Mexico History Museum. The museum has the Palace of the Governors, which faces the main plaza and looks very southwestern.
When we entered, the museum was closed due to police activity. So, We roamed in the shop until it opened again. Since we were nonresidents, we had to pay $12 each. The palace was closed, but we were told it might reopen in time.
I found it difficult to navigate through the exhibits in a meaningful order. There was just no obvious lead from one exhibit to another.
It was interesting to see the ancient treasures from the Pueblo folk, including this beaded necklace, incised jar, and finger-woven shoe.
Sadly, when the Spanish showed up from Mexico, it did not go well.
The Spanish, of course, brought Catholicism. I'm Catholic, but I'll admit the way they brought it was nothing to be proud of.
What a difference a few centuries make! Po'Pay is one of the two representatives of New Mexico in the US Capitol.
While there were an awful lot of signs with info. there were also some artifacts. There was this interesting Native American game plus an explanation of Pieces of Eight. There was stagecoach and a beautiful comb that a mantilla could be draped over.
The Spanish were not the only ones to come here, of course. There were Jewish merchants and folks who believed in "Manifest Destiny", which sounded good in school, but not so much now.
The question of land its ownership was addressed in multiple cards.
Did you know Geronimo was from here?
There's an old movie called The Harvey Girls, about girls who worked at the hotels. Judy Garland sang a song in it called On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe. That very real railroad was discussed.
Of course, I've also heard of the fact that New Mexico is a real draw for artists.
Around 3:45, we heard an unexpected sound and looked outside to see a sun shower. It did not last long.
Besides that bit about the song that reminded me about the movie about the Harvey Girls, there was an exhibit on the man and his company. I recalled that more than one National Park has a concession operated by that company, including one at the Grand Canyon. Of course, there was some serving ware used by the company on display.
Thee was interesting information on the vital railroad industry, not all of it good news.
Sometimes, it is easy to forget that not all of the states easily became members of the union. In fact, there was outright opposition to some, like New Mexico.
Roaming around a state history museum, you encounter info on things you just never thought about and then you wonder why you hadn't. And then, you read stuff like this and are instantly ashamed at how unfair this country has been at times.
Most of the state history museums or capitols I've visited have included a display of the silver service from the warship that bore the state's name. This was the first that included a humidor, and not only that, it was made to look like the Taos Pueblo.
One of the exhibits was about what it was like for the people working on the Manhattan Project.
There were exhibits on other topics, but this notice gave me something to think about.
Finally, at 4:49, they announce that the Palace of Governors was open again. We rushed out there and did a whirlwind run around it. It would have been nice to have more time, but, there you go. This is the courtyard between the museum and the Palace.
An interesting exhibit showed old printing materials. They also had info on the planning of Santa Fe's layout.
Displays on the building itself were interesting. I took particular notice of the thickness of the walls and thought they might have helped with summer heat. They even had cutouts in the floor to show the subflooring.
I did get a few moments in the shop before we left just after 5. Outside, we could see how they kept up the adobe on the Palace. While I didn't take photos of it, we did see folks under the arcade facing the square, who were selling their wares, mostly jewelry.
Speaking of the square, look at this really nice bench we passed there.
As we shopped around and eventually headed for the parking garage, we had the chance to see Coyote Cantina from below, which we hadn't noticed yesterday.
We left the garage at 5:42, after paying $12. It was now 89°. As we drove to the hotel area, I noticed once again, that they did not shy away from using non-English names for streets.
We passed another restaurant that didn't make a lot of sense.
That said, I will admit that our options for local flavor for dinner near the hotel were limited. So, we went to Panera at 6:10(25670), where I'd rack up another visit. I ordered a Strawberry Poppyseed Salad for $12.41, a chocolate chippy cookie for $1.45, and a Papaya Passion Fruit Green Tea for $3.05. K got a Teriyaki Chicken Bowl for $12.79 with French bread on the side and a small coffee for $2.54. $35.98 seemed like a lot, strictly speaking, but there you go.
We were back out at 7:22 and I was in a lot of pain. We reached the Econo Lodge at 7:25 (25670) and I gave half a thought to the pool, but there really weren't towels and it was so hot. So, we just packed and relaxed.
The phone said I'd walked 7,195 steps for 2.5 miles.
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