It's Memorial Day today. Our new grand baby has been born & we've survived taking care of little Irene's older brothers and sisters! Although exhausted we have lots to do on our last day off before heading back to the office tomorrow so today's post will be short... We will post lots more on the Vatican Museum and our visit to St. Peter's Basilica in the days to come but first some interesting info and pics on a fabulous staircase....
I was fascinated by the Vatican's museum's double spiral staircase...from what we were told by our guide it is one of only two of it's kind in the world...the other in New York's Guggenheim museum...
"The Vatican Museums spiral staircase is one of the most photographed in the world, and certainly one of the most beautiful. Designed by Giuseppe Momo in 1932, the broad steps are somewhere between a ramp and a staircase. The stairs are actually two separate helixes, one leading up and the other leading down, that twist together in a double helix formation. Little did the Vatican Museum know in 1932 that this formation would come to represent life itself, with the discovery of the double helical DNA strand."
Read more at http://www.oddee.com/item_96882.aspx#G1zMcuxeHHVB4xM8.99
"What we must know in organic architecture is not found in books. It is necessary to have recourse to Nature with a capital N in order to get an education. Necessary to learn from trees, flowers, shells -- objects which contain truths of form following function.* If we stopped there, then it would be mererly imitation. But if we dig deep enough... we arrive at secrets of form related to purpose that will make of the tree a building, and the building a tree." Frank Lloyd Wright
If you are as intrigued as I was/am by such engineering feats try looking at this link where I found some of the information above...http://www.spiralzoom.com/culture/architecture/architecture.html