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Phyllis and I loved the 16th Avenue Tiled Steps -- a beautiful, community-created mosaic running up the steps at 16th and Moraga in San Francisco.
In 2003, Artists Aileen Barr and Colette Crutcher led the creation of 163 mosaic panels that were applied to the step risers, over 300 neighbors helped make them, and over 220 neighbors sponsored handmade animal, bird and fish name tiles embedded within the mosaic. They successfully completed the project two years later, in 2005.
This collective art project is one of San Francisco’s little-known gems that’s well worth the trip: it is a sight to behold, as these photos suggest. The spiral patterns that run through all the steps are exquisite and tie it all together. What a wonderful way to make art with your neighbors!
Learn more: www.tiledsteps.org/
1 The Spanish steps were built in 1723-1725 by a design of the rather little known architect Francesco de Sanctis and were financed by French diplomat Étienne Gueffier’s bequeathed. It was built in order to link the the Trinità dei Monti church that was under the patronage of the king of France, with the Spanish square below. The long, triangular Spanish square is named after the Spanish Embassy to the Holy See. In the 17th century, the area around the embassy was even considered Spanish territory. The idea of connecting the church with the square below originates from the 17th century, when the French also planned a statue of King Louis XIV of France at the top of the staircase. This plan was never executed, due to the refusal of the Pope.
2 The Spanish steps unique design and elegance has made it a popular place for artists, painters and poets who were attracted to the place which inspired them in return. The artist’s presence attracted many beautiful women to the area, hoping to taken as models. This in turn, attracted rich Romans and travelers. After a short time, the steps were crowded with people of all kinds of backgrounds. This tradition, of the Spanish Steps as a meeting place, has lived on ever since.
spanish1The Spanish Steps are the widest stairway in Europe
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3 At the lower end of the stairs you can find an early baroque fountain called Fontana della Barcaccia, or “Fountain of the Old Boat”. It is credited Pietro Bernini; a member of the renowned artist family Bernini and father of famous Baroque artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The fountain has the form of a sinking ship and it is said to be based upon a folk legend. The legend tells that a fishing boat was carried all the way to this exact spot during a massive flood of the Tiber River in the 16th century. The design with the sinking boat also helped Bernini to overcome a technical problem, due to low water pressure.
4 On the 13th June, 2007, a drunken young man attempted to drive a Toyota Celica down the Spanish Steps. Luckily no one was hurt, but several of the 200-year-old steps were chipped and scuffed. The driver was arrested.
5 At the corner on the right as one begins to climb the steps, is the house where English poet John Keats lived and died in 1821; it is now a museum dedicated to his memory, full of memorabilia of the English Romantic generation.
6 On the 20th March, 1986, the first McDonalds restaurant in Italy was opened near the Spanish Steps. Protests there against fast food led to Carlo Petrini founding the international Slow Food movement three years later.
WAYNE STILES SEPTEMBER 19, 2011 17:23
Sights and Insights: The Southern Steps excavations may have been where the Psalms of Ascents were sung on High Holidays.
Wayne Stiles is an author who has never recovered from his travels in Israel—and loves to write about them from his desk in Texas.
Fewer places in Jerusalem give the sense of the Second Temple period like the Southern Steps excavations. In fact, because it is forbidden to dig on the Temple Mount itself, this area immediately south of the mount offers important archaeology to help unpack the history of the Temple Mount during the first century.
Excavation of this area began in 1968 by Benjamin Mazar and continued for ten years. Since the 1990s, archeological excavations have progressed under Ronny Reich. In fact, the recent discovery of the First-Temple period Ophel (mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27:3; 33:14) has been opened to the public.
The 200-feet wide flight of stairs represents both original and restored steps from the Second Temple period. Three times a year worshipers would enter the Temple from these steps, after a customary cleansing in the nearby ritual baths, or mikvot.
The Tarr Steps is a stone clapper bridge across the River Barle in the Exmoor National Park, a couple of miles from Withypool Somerset
The Tarr Steps Bridge is one of the oldest known examples of a stone bridge made before the use of arches. The bridge was constructed using 17 spans of pillars and smooth covering stones. The pillars were made using rough stones that are between 3 and 4 feet high, and placed in the river bed between 4 to 6 feet apart. Smooth slabs varying between 6 to 8 feet long were then laid flat on the pillars without the use of mortar or cement. Most pillars are spanned by only one stone.
Thyeir origin is obscure but some say could be as early nas Bronze age.
Photographed by Deborah Wright.
These steps look a little uneven - but as I remember them, they were. It's almost like a subtle optical illusion; or, I haven't straightened the image properly.
Sony DSLR-A100; 1/160s f11 ISO100
1 The Spanish steps were built in 1723-1725 by a design of the rather little known architect Francesco de Sanctis and were financed by French diplomat Étienne Gueffier’s bequeathed. It was built in order to link the the Trinità dei Monti church that was under the patronage of the king of France, with the Spanish square below. The long, triangular Spanish square is named after the Spanish Embassy to the Holy See. In the 17th century, the area around the embassy was even considered Spanish territory. The idea of connecting the church with the square below originates from the 17th century, when the French also planned a statue of King Louis XIV of France at the top of the staircase. This plan was never executed, due to the refusal of the Pope.
2 The Spanish steps unique design and elegance has made it a popular place for artists, painters and poets who were attracted to the place which inspired them in return. The artist’s presence attracted many beautiful women to the area, hoping to taken as models. This in turn, attracted rich Romans and travelers. After a short time, the steps were crowded with people of all kinds of backgrounds. This tradition, of the Spanish Steps as a meeting place, has lived on ever since.
spanish1The Spanish Steps are the widest stairway in Europe
spanish1
spanish2
spanish3
spanish4
3 At the lower end of the stairs you can find an early baroque fountain called Fontana della Barcaccia, or “Fountain of the Old Boat”. It is credited Pietro Bernini; a member of the renowned artist family Bernini and father of famous Baroque artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The fountain has the form of a sinking ship and it is said to be based upon a folk legend. The legend tells that a fishing boat was carried all the way to this exact spot during a massive flood of the Tiber River in the 16th century. The design with the sinking boat also helped Bernini to overcome a technical problem, due to low water pressure.
4 On the 13th June, 2007, a drunken young man attempted to drive a Toyota Celica down the Spanish Steps. Luckily no one was hurt, but several of the 200-year-old steps were chipped and scuffed. The driver was arrested.
5 At the corner on the right as one begins to climb the steps, is the house where English poet John Keats lived and died in 1821; it is now a museum dedicated to his memory, full of memorabilia of the English Romantic generation.
6 On the 20th March, 1986, the first McDonalds restaurant in Italy was opened near the Spanish Steps. Protests there against fast food led to Carlo Petrini founding the international Slow Food movement three years later.