Stairs and Steps

(More Images)

Stairs
Mykonos, Greece
(Mykonos, Greece)

One day, as I was walking up an unreasonable number of stairs to get to the Fourvier in Lyon, France (a large church at the top of the highest hill in the city), it dawned on me that these things (the steps) are just as interesting as Doors and Windows. Stairs are more than functional elements that we use to kill ourselves slowly, for they also have aesthetic value. It doesn't matter what culture you go to, you'll find some form of stairs, and from them, we can learn a lot about the people who built them. Stairs go both up and down, unless propelled by electricity, but more interestingly, you can tell the kinds of people who used them, whether they are supposed to go to a steeple, or to a dungeon. Maybe, they simply take you to a front door.

Gurunsi Ladder (Burkina Faso)

Gurunsi Stairs (Burkina Faso)

Gurunsi Steps (Burkina Faso)

Walkin' 'Round Town (New York City, New York, USA)

Stairs (Provence, France)

Stairwell (Lyon, France)

Stairway to Heaven (Po Valley, Italy)

Bar Stairs (London, England)

Stairs inside Palacio Contarini (Venice, Italy)

Staircase (Lyon, France)

Stairway (Lyon, France)

Spiral Stairs on the Fouvier (2) (Lyon, France)

Homeless Pooch (Havana, Cuba)

Galway Stairway (Galway, Connemara, Ireland)

Stairs to Dunluce Castle (Ireland)

A Step Up (Portugal)

Stairway to Heaven (California, USA)

Stairs (Portugal)

Mt. Sulfer Walkway (1) (Banff, Alberta, Canada)

Mt. Sulfer Walkway (2) (Banff, Alberta, Canada)

Stairs in abandoned building (Havana, Cuba)

Steps (Lyon, France)

Blue Steps (San Francisco, California, USA)

Ferris Wheel Steps (London, England)

Ferris Wheel Steps, B&W (London, England)

Canal Steps (Venice, Italy)

Bartolome Island (Galapagos, Ecuador)

Railing Shadows ()

Tower (b&w)