List of antique spiral stairs

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Exploded view of the inner staircase in the lower part of the Trajan Column (click on the picture)
Floor plan of Temple A in Selinunte . The two circular remains at the transition between Pronaos and Cella point to the oldest known spiral staircases (approx. 480 BC).

The list of ancient spiral staircases includes a selection of Greek and Roman spiral staircases from ancient times . The spiral staircase is a staircase shape that found its way into architecture relatively late due to its complex helix structure. Although this staircase shape lasted until the 5th century BC. It is only the construction of the style-defining Trajan Column in Rome that brought about its final breakthrough in Roman architecture .

In addition to the victory columns in the imperial capitals of Rome and Constantinople , temples , baths , basilicas and mausoleums were also provided with spiral staircases. In the art of fortification, however, unlike in medieval castles, they have not yet appeared, provided that their absence can be generalized in the towers of the city ​​wall of Rome . In late antiquity , people started moving the staircase to their own stair towers on the outer wall of the central building. B. in the church of San Vitale .

The construction and use of spiral staircases are taken from Christian and Islamic architecture.

Spiral stairs

The Marcus Aurelius column . Analogous to the frieze, an almost 30 m high spiral staircase winds up inside , which rotates around its own axis every 14 steps.
Building place country construction time height Number of stairwells comment
Temple A Selinunte Italy approx. 480 BC Chr. 2
Temple of Bel Palmyra Syria 1st century
Trajan's Column Rome Italy 113 29.68 m 1 14 steps per revolution
Marcus Aurelius column Rome Italy Late 2nd century 29.62 m 1 14 steps per revolution
Round temple in Ostia Ostia Antica Italy 3rd century 1
Caracalla Baths Rome Italy 212-216 2
Baths of Diocletian Rome Italy 298-305 4th
Santa Costanza Rome Italy approx. 350 1
Mausoleum of Galerius Thessaloniki Greece Early 4th century 2
Kaiserthermen trier Germany Early 4th century 8th
Column of Theodosius Constantinople Turkey Late 4th century 1
St. Gereon Cologne Germany Late 4th century 16.50 m 1
Pillar of Arcadius Constantinople Turkey 401-421 1
San Vitale Ravenna Italy 527-548 2 Two stair towers
Great Palace Gate Constantinople Turkey 532 ? ? Prokop (Pers. 1.24.43) reports failure of the spiral staircase
Sangarius Bridge Adapazarı Turkey 559-562 10.37 m 1 In the south pillar of the triumphal arch

See also

Remarks

  1. ↑ Preserve ancient structures up to this height.
  2. ↑ Reported date of the event.
  3. ↑ Height of the round arch.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Beckmann (2002), p. 354
  2. ↑ a b c Ruggeri (2006), p. 77
  3. ↑ a b c Beckmann (2002), pp. 353-356
  4. ↑ Beckmann (2002), p. 355
  5. ↑ Jones (1993), pp. 28,31
  6. ↑ Jones (1993), pp. 28,38
  7. ↑ a b Beckmann (2002), p. 352
  8. ↑ Werner Schäfke (1984), p. 102
  9. ↑ Rasch (1985), p. 123, fn. 27
  10. ↑ Beckmann (2002), p. 349
  11. ^ Whitby (1985), p. 129

literature

  • Martin Beckmann: The 'Columnae Coc (h) lides' of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius . In: Phoenix . Vol. 56, No. 3/4, 2002, pp. 348-357
  • Mark Wilson Jones: One Hundred Feet and a Spiral Stair: The Problem of Designing Trajan's Column . In: Journal of Roman Archeology . Vol. 6, 1993, pp. 23-38
  • Lynne Lancaster: Building Trajan's Column . In: American Journal of Archeology . Vol. 103, No. 3, 1999, pp. 419–439 (not evaluated)
  • Jürgen Rasch: The dome in Roman architecture. Development, design, construction . In: Architectura . Vol. 15, 1985, pp. 117-139
  • Stefania Ruggeri: Selinunte . Edizioni Affinità Elettive, Messina 2006, ISBN 88-8405-079-0 , p. 77
  • Werner Schäfke : Cologne's Romanesque churches. Architecture, furnishings, history . Cologne 1984, ISBN 3-7701-1360-8 , p. 102
  • Michael Whitby : Justinian's Bridge over the Sangarius and the Date of Procopius' de Aedificiis . In: The Journal of Hellenic Studies . Vol. 105, 1985, pp. 129-148

Web links

Commons : Roman Stairs  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Traianus - Technical investigations of Roman buildings