And down and down and down and down you go

August 20, 2015 6:16 PM

Spiraling stairs far from ordinary.
posted by adamvasco (16 comments total)

Number one isn't stairs. Ramps!
posted by Sys Rq at 7:42 PM on August 20, 2015

I've got a "stair porn" tag on my tumblr and this belongs in it.
posted by immlass at 8:00 PM on August 20, 2015 [2 favorites]

Oh my god, it's full of stairs...
posted by Devonian at 8:06 PM on August 20, 2015 [8 favorites]

I have walked down that staircase in Sagrada Familia (or another one just like it), and let me tell you, it doesn't just LOOK like it goes on forever.
posted by babelfish at 8:35 PM on August 20, 2015 [3 favorites]

A few of them I just can't quite understand, and I feel like I need another perspective. Gorgeous.
posted by arcticwoman at 8:37 PM on August 20, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'm pretty sure I remember that one from Hanover from when I was a little kid, but I want to visit all of these.
posted by Navelgazer at 10:15 PM on August 20, 2015

Here's my own photo of #2, the Templar Initiation well in Sintra.

Yes, you can walk down it and at the bottom there are tunnels leading you out to other caverns and grottoes.
posted by vacapinta at 1:35 AM on August 21, 2015 [2 favorites]

I have walked down that staircase in Sagrada Familia (or another one just like it), and let me tell you, it doesn't just LOOK like it goes on forever.

I am now imagining that you are posting this from the 354,486th step...
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:39 AM on August 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

The Art teacher in my high school mentioned that one of his students tried to draw a spiral staircase in perspective, and found it was surprisingly difficult.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 6:15 AM on August 21, 2015

Patterson Park Pagoda stairs, Baltimore
posted by sidereal at 6:15 AM on August 21, 2015

Ironic that the Vatican has a double helix....
posted by miyabo at 6:15 AM on August 21, 2015

this is what separates us from the animals
posted by thelonius at 6:39 AM on August 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

the Templar Initiation well in Sintra.

Somewhere an Ubisoft employee is loading up Metafilter for the morning, paging through pictures of secret grottoes and recondite symbolism, and screaming "How did we miss this!?!"
posted by roystgnr at 6:42 AM on August 21, 2015

I looked at number 3 for far too long before I realised that it was shot from beneath, not above. "Why are the bannisters so short? Are these stairs for Borrowers?"
posted by daisyk at 7:34 AM on August 21, 2015

lighthouse at point loma :P (from beneath!)
posted by kliuless at 8:53 AM on August 21, 2015

Architecture Online has a few more.
posted by adamvasco at 10:28 AM on August 21, 2015