5/23/2023 0 Comments The vanishing staircase![]() ![]() ![]() They could be as simple as a spiraling staircase down to a round pool of water in the center, or a busy maze of stairs and columns with the complexity of a sketch by M.C. They were intended primarily as a source of clean water but also served as gathering places, temples and refuges from the heat. People began constructing stepwells in western India in around 650 AD. On subsequent trips to India, Lautman sought out stepwells and documented them through photographs and research. "But what was shocking about it," Latman continued, "was that I couldn't recall another experience of looking down into architecture into such a complex man-made experience. The ground fell away into what looked like a man-made chasm. It was just a very nondescript low, cement wall and when I looked over it, it was a shocking experience. “My driver took me to this place and let me out of the car in a dusty kind of dirt place and said, 'walk to that wall,'” Lautman recalled. Lautman fell in love with stepwells on her first trip to India. Victoria Lautman, author of The Vanishing Stepwells of India, spent years searching them out. ![]() Walls, vegetation and neighboring buildings have grown up to hide them. Once an important part of daily life in India, modern wells have replaced them. These structures are sunken into the Earth with stairways that spiral or zigzag as far as nine stories down into the cool, dark depths where a pool of water lies. ![]() It is easy to miss the vast, ancient stepwells of India even if you are standing directly in front of one. ![]()
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