Beautiful Art: architecture, paintings, sculptures, etc

Made of oak wood, this imperial staircase is located in Valle d'Aosta, northwestern Italy, in the Castel Savoia:

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The Castel Savoia is a 19th century villa built as a holiday home for the Queen consort of the Kingdom of Italy Margherita of Savoy:

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Menna said:
The effort and skill
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wiki


Helvetiorum Fidei ac Virtuti = To the loyalty and bravery of the Swiss
The Lion lies in his lair in the perpendicular face of a low cliff—for he is carved from the living rock of the cliff. His size is colossal, his attitude is noble. His head is bowed, the broken spear is sticking in his shoulder, his protecting paw rests upon the lilies of France. Vines hang down the cliff and wave in the wind, and a clear stream trickles from above and empties into a pond at the base, and in the smooth surface of the pond the lion is mirrored, among the water-lilies. Around about are green trees and grass. The place is a sheltered, reposeful woodland nook, remote from noise and stir and confusion—and all this is fitting, for lions do die in such places, and not on granite pedestals in public squares fenced with fancy iron railings. The Lion of Lucerne would be impressive anywhere, but nowhere so impressive as where he is.

— Mark Twain, A Tramp Abroad (1880)
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MK Scarlett said:
Made of oak wood, this imperial staircase is located in Valle d'Aosta, northwestern Italy, in the Castel Savoia
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Thank you, as the engineering/craftsmanship utilizing this wood in the way it was done, is beauty.

To add, many know of this staircase at Loretto Chapel and its mysterious story:

One of the puzzling parts of the story is that the materials he used for the staircase were not local. In fact, they were quite unusual, and were sourced from somewhere they couldn’t identify, outside of Santa Fe. These days that wouldn’t be a big deal, but back then it sure was. Especially considering the man had only a donkey.

Further, the staircase was built with a double helix shape, which included two 360 degree turns. This is both rare and extremely difficult.
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Voyageur said:
Had assumed you actually had, however was thinking of other readers, who without context, might want to know more concerning the rock façade of the lion. For instance, notice the lion, like the bull, had been depicted as being stabbed behind the shoulder?

Much meaning in this rock sculpture.
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The narrative makes it better
 
Tuatha de Danaan said:
Oh my goodness, where's the way up or more importantly where's the way down???? My vertigo is not improving!!!!!
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Yeah, I didn't see anyway up or down from the vantage we see in this picture, either. What I did notice is the several cracks in the face of the rock. And, I'm not talking about that big one, but those at the right of it in the picture. Yikes! Hope the face of the rock doesn't slough off.
 
Tuatha de Danaan said:
Oh my goodness, where's the way up or more importantly where's the way down???? My vertigo is not improving!!!!!
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The rock formations on Athos peninsula are called Meteora and the monasteries were built on them hundreds of years ago. From what I know, they used ropes to go up and down.

I just checked wiki :scared:
Access to the monasteries was originally (and deliberately) difficult, requiring either long ladders latched together or large nets used to haul up both goods and people. This required quite a leap of faith – the ropes were replaced, so the story goes, only "when the Lord let them break".[17] In the words of UNESCO, "The net in which intrepid pilgrims were hoisted up vertically alongside the 373 metres (1,224 ft) cliff where the Varlaam monastery dominates the valley symbolizes the fragility of a traditional way of life that is threatened with extinction."[18]

Until the seventeenth century, the primary means of conveying goods and people from these eyries was by means of baskets and ropes.[19]

In 1921, Queen Marie of Romania visited Meteora, becoming the first woman ever allowed to enter the Great Meteoron monastery.[20]

In the 1920s there was an improvement in the arrangements. Steps were cut into the rock, making the complex accessible via a bridge from the nearby plateau. During World War II the site was bombed.[21]
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When I was in high school we took a trip with our year's classes in Greece and among others, we visited the monastery of Saint Stephanos at Meteora. It was on a lower rock with road access from the back. I have significant acrophobia and hated all the cliffy roads to get us there, but once we arrived, my sense of awe was stronger than my fear. I'll probably never visit again, but I am glad the school made me do it that one time.

Saint Stephanos monastery is inhabited by nuns and they allow visitors. (Most of the monasteries with monks still keep the Avato principle which also became a law granting them permission to apply it: no women allowed). You can have a look in the video below so you can see that at least for this one, access is easy (start watching at the 40 seconds mark):

 
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