The book The Staircase. The Architecture of Ascent is a magnificent survey of the staircase in all its forms with dazzling photographs, many specially taken for this book.

This extraordinary book showcases the astonishing diversity of staircases over the centuries, from the stepped pyramids of the Maya to exquisitely proportioned Renaissance stairs, to the elaborate balustraded confections of the Baroque period and the computer-aided designs of today.

Here are Michelangelo’s double stair at the Palazzo dei Senatori on the Capitoline Hill in Rome; the double-spiral stair at Château de Chambord in the Loire; the entrance stair in the Hermitage in St Petersburg; the radical spiral ramp of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum; and the exterior stair at the Pompidou Centre in Paris.

The authors also explore the magical and symbolic meanings of the staircase. Powerful emblems of technological and artistic achievement, these staircases are inherently dynamic - as is every page of this fascinating and beautifully illustrated book.

The book The Staircase. The Architecture of Ascent is a magnificent survey of the staircase in all its forms with dazzling photographs, many specially taken for this book.

This extraordinary book showcases the astonishing diversity of staircases over the centuries, from the stepped pyramids of the Maya to exquisitely proportioned Renaissance stairs, to the elaborate balustraded confections of the Baroque period and the computer-aided designs of today.

Here are Michelangelo’s double stair at the Palazzo dei Senatori on the Capitoline Hill in Rome; the double-spiral stair at Château de Chambord in the Loire; the entrance stair in the Hermitage in St Petersburg; the radical spiral ramp of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum; and the exterior stair at the Pompidou Centre in Paris.

The authors also explore the magical and symbolic meanings of the staircase. Powerful emblems of technological and artistic achievement, these staircases are inherently dynamic - as is every page of this fascinating and beautifully illustrated book.

Oscar Tusquets Blanca is an architect, designer, writer and curator. Martine Diot is head of information studies at the Centre for Research on Historical Monuments in Paris. Adélaïde de Savray is a graduate of the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle. Jérôme Coignard writes regularly for Connaissance des Arts. Jean Dethier has curated many exhibitions at the Pompidou Centre.