Doppelwendeltreppe Graz

Historical Building Graz, Austria

The Graz Spiral Staircase as a double spiral staircase (as its official name) was built in the years 1499 to 1500 under the reign of the German king and later of the emperor Maximilian I by an unknown master builder of a medieval building in the castle of Steinmetzen. The Graz staircase is not the only and not the oldest in its form in Central European architecture, but one of the most important. It is characterized by the particularly high quality of the detailing and the boldness of its construction with hollow spindles. Here comes the experimentation of late Gothic architecture under Emperor Maximilian I expressed. The craftsmanship and geometry of the Grazer Doppelwendel influenced Konrad Wachsmann on the development of the Grapevine studio in Chicago in 1953.