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There is something weird and mysterious about stairways that don’t go anywhere, and yet they’re surprisingly common: inside and outside old buildings, among demolished walls, in big cities and small villages, or in artists’ imaginations. They get your mind going, spurring you to imagine secret places and invisible doors. Try climbing the next one you encounter. Or just imagine climbing these.
Photo: zappowbang
Photo: srecd
Photo: Lauren Manning
Photo: Mike Towber
Photo: SFB579 
Photo: Mads Johansen
Photo: moleratsgotnofur
Photo: gregwake
Photo: ffreshness
Photo: Neil and Kathy Carey
Photo: karlos of syston
Photo: vollefolklore
Photo: aquababe
Photo: twinxamot
Photo: mikelietz
Photo: fish2000
Photo: Andrea Schwartz
Photo: Attila Nagy/Gizmodo
Photo: Evelyne Awaad/art_inthecity
Photo: Alaskan Dude
Photo: Arturo Rodriguez/AP
Photo: Funny-Leo
Did we miss your favourite stairway? Post it in the comments!
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Not all of these stairs lead nowhere, some of them lead to a door or a viewpoint, others provide low access to boats and some lead somewhere but start nowhere. a few of them do indeed lead nowhere but not all of them.
Thanks for clearing that up Captain Pedantic
I’m sure it made perfect sense in your head, but how can you disagree with “stairs that lead nowhere” by saying “..some lead somewhere but start nowhere”? Doesn’t that depend on which way you’re going?
That is quite true, and yes i’m Pedantic
http://www.geocaching.hu/cacheimages/2009-04/5073_20090413_234338.jpg
Budapest, Városliget
http://gfx.lumisfera.pl/media/photos/7153/362871.5.jpg – Bielany, Warsaw
Taken during the recent floods in Newark. http://www.flickr.com/photos/andybythetrent/8301945558/in/photostream
nice
Reminds me of Lemmings
lol
Don’t you just love that the only country out of the dozen or so represented here who felt it necessary to hang a ‘no access’ sign was Britain?
And how the viewing platform in Leicester appears to offer fantastic vistas of the surrounding industrial wasteland?
I’m in a cynical mood today I guess
Not a stairway to nowhere, but a door with no stairs, based at Glasgow University. I think it’s kind of cool.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/janihelle/4161138138/in/set-72157618446576514
Beautiful post, and I agree entirely that there is something charming and mysterious about staircases such as these. Makes me feel like a kid.
Anything you can see in life that instantly poses questions in your head is a win for me. Usually nature or the best kind of art.