The Incredible Story of the Colorado Chapel That Refused to Fall

High in the mountains between Estes Park and Boulder, Colorado, sits an unincorporated area known as Allenspark, which is home to a chapel that has a lot of history, including numerous accounts of surviving natural disasters.

History of Colorado’s Chapel on the Rock

The Saint Catherine of Siena Chapel, better known as Chapel on the Rock, was first dreamed up by a religious figure known as Monsignor Joseph Bosetti in 1916. The Monsignor was inspired by the rocks upon which the chapel currently sits, as well as a Bible verse that contains the phrase, "upon this rock I will build my church."

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Bosetti would spend the subsequent 20 years on a mission to keep the rock intact, a battle that he would win, and the landowners would eventually donate the land to the church, with the chapel’s construction being completed in 1936.

Colorado’s Chapel on the Rock Survives Natural Disasters

After a decades-long struggle, Monsignor Bosetti’s vision for the chapel would not only be fulfilled, but the building is still standing today after surviving multiple natural disasters.

In November of 2011, a wildfire would claim much of the surrounding land, but the sturdy stone structure of the chapel remained intact.

Just two years later, in 2013, the land would suffer another natural disaster in the form of massive flooding and subsequent landslides, but once again, the church would remain intact.

Keep scrolling to take a virtual tour of the chapel:

Today, the chapel is open to the public and serves as part of the Saint Malo Retreat, Conference, and Spiritual Center of the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver.