Bramante Spiral Staircase in Vatican Museum, Architectural Gem
Spiral staircase at the exit of Vatican Museum is yet another architectural splendor of The Vatican City. Details of architecture and the way it has been designed is amazing.
It takes a while to understand the 2 different spiral staircases, one is meant for going up to exhibits and the other for exit.
Tourists gather around this architectural marvel, always puzzled which angle of shot would give the complete picture. You will see them stopping at various points along the staircase to get that one perfect last shot.
Yet another interesting double staircase I have seen is in Braga – the baroque double staircase with several switchbacks and landings in Braga Portugal.
Original Bramante Staircase
This one was designed based on the original Bramante staircase in Pio-Clementine Museum, which houses several sculptures.
Original staircase was built in 1505 to a design by Donato Bramante. It connects the Belvedere Palace of Pope Innocent VIII to the outside. This staircase is within a square tower of that building. Unique pattern of the staircase allowed people and pack animals to ascend and descend without interruption.
See the ornately worked metal on the balustrade around the ramp.
Bramante Spiral Staircase Vatican Museum
Modern Bramante Spiral Staircase Vatican
It is a modern addition to the museum. Built in 1932, designed by Giuseppe Momo. The two staircases twist like a double helix formation.
And it was not built based on the double helical DNA strand, because the structure of the DNA-helix, the molecule that carries genetic information from one generation to the other was discovered much later in 1953.
This spiral staircase of Vatican Museum is counted among the ten amazing staircases of the world found indoors, see others here.
Don’t forget to look up after you get off this amazing staircase. A geometrically designed canopy located above provides light to illuminate the stairs.There is good lighting along the staircase too.
Ceiling above Bramante Spiral Staircase
Pin this for later…
(this post was first written on April 4, 2011.)
Great shot. I enjoyed looking down these stairs. Another double helix formation that I recently visited is the ramp at the Dome at Reichstag, the German Parliament building in Berlin.
The staircase is really an architectural wonder. You are right about the fact that people try to get the best angle of the staircase from different locations. That is exactly what we did too when we were there a couple of years ago.
Superb staircase ! Mindblowing architectural marvel !! Wow !
Beautiful Shots!!
Are they going up or coming down BTW ?
I think they are stay put !!
well, this is lovely
Grand!!! That IS an architectural beauty.
Amazing Staircase..and Nicely Presented with the info.. 🙂
Just one word, Amazing!
This is amazing 🙂
WOW!! Great photography, dear.
lemme b honest 🙂 I had to climb 47 stairs of comments to reach here 😛 .. this is a WOWWW pic I must say ..
What a shot! Awesome!
Wow…Amazing… And quite an awesome photo too…
I really felt dizzy just by the click Indrani
Beautiful one
I have been wanting to visit this and this pic is wanting me to make that trip happen 😀
Beautiful !
Well well Vatican city has definitely got some mind blowing architect stuff, wish something like this was in India too !
I always find it amazing the kind of things we humans create even before it is discovered. Only at times I feel that are we working towards discovering things of use or is it just discovering and creating things of mass destruction that attracts us now?
Beautiful captures 🙂
I hope to visit Vatican someday… still in it's glory!
1st pic is very nice !
beautiful capture. the top 10 stair case. WOW. beautiful piece of engineering 🙂
This reminds me of the moving staircase in Harry Potter books 🙂 Amazing capture, Indrani 🙂
From the first photo its obvious to have this staircase in the top ten list. Nice perspective ! I think u could have played with cropping and composition a bit more !
Excellent shot!
In awe with the spiral staircase! Safe one too…Thanks for this new info 🙂
Wow! You've captured this really well 🙂
Archaic! It's tremendously artistic.
Great capture!!
But I must say, the pic of the spiral staircase made me a little dizzy…
Amazing pic… Didnt know about the stairs in the Italian museum. It is a must visit place for me!
thatz an awesome spiral staircase!
oh my god that is some staircase .. WOW
Bikram's
Wow!! Beautiful… love the angle you chose for the shot.
How beautiful !
I had visited Vatican many years ago..but missed seeing this place.
Wonderful shot of the staircase in the Vatican Museum! Very well done!
🙂
Gorgeous staircase but going round it sure makes me feel giddy!
wow amazing shot!
great shot!
Two very nice perspectives of the spiral staircase in the Vatican Museum.
I hadn't heard of this staircase before.
It is beautiful – like a shell.
Lucy
hi indrani
interesting photos
thanks for sharing
It was worth waiting for 1932 to get a staircase like that!
That's a neat staircase, and a very neat shot of it.
This is a marvelous staircase, and I really like your photo of the spirals. Very well done!
Excellent View.. Well composed!
Beautiful view of the beautiful spiral staircase.
That's a great photo, Indrani. I didn't know there was a list of great staircases, but I'm going to check it out and see if I've walked on any of them.
Interesting that it mimics the double helix. I wonder (and I'm over my head mathematically in this) if that is related to the Fibonacci sequence. I know that relates to other natural spirals such as see shells.
The first one is really stunning
This is a stunning structure. I think the first photo could be a design in a piece of jewellery…
Awesome! You captured it right on the spot!
If it wasn't wide or took time to climb up and down, it surely would have made one's head whirl 🙂 That is one awesome staircase.
That[s incredible. It would be hard to figure out the perfect shot, except that you did it.
I was there put didn’t get such an inclusive capture of the spiral staircase. The historical significance is an interesting detail. Thanks for sharing this part of your journey.
Wonderful shot from the top.
Wow! What a picture!
Woah , Nice 🙂
SUPERB picture Indrani, really good photowork.
regards, Joop
that is some architectural marvel that should be seen and photographed.
Wow, it makes me rather giddy. Great pictures.