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The Camondo Stairs are 19th century stairs on Bankalar Caddesi (Banks Street) in the Galata quarter in Istanbul, Turkey. The curvaceous stairs were designed in a unique mix of the Neo-Baroque and early Art Nouveau styles, and built circa 1870–1880 by the renowned Ottoman-Venetian Jewish banker Abraham Salomon Camondo, the patriarch of the House of Camondo.
Abraham Salomon Camondo constructed the stairs to provide an easy connection between Kart Çınar Sokak, where he lived, and Bankalar Caddesi, where he worked. The stairs were also frequently used by his children who studied at the nearby St. George's Austrian High School.
The stairs were famously photographed by Henri Cartier-Bresson in 1964, and have featured in Barbara Nadel's crime novel Pretty Dead Things.
References:The ancient Argos Theater was built in 320 BC. and is located in Argos, Greece against Larissa Hill. Nearby from this site is Agora, Roman Odeon, and the Baths of Argos. The theater is one of the largest architectural developments in Greece and was renovated in ca 120 AD.
The Hellenistic theater at Argos is cut into the hillside of the Larisa, with 90 steps up a steep incline, forming a narrow rectilinear cavea. Among the largest theaters in Greece, it held about 20,000 spectators and is divided by two landings into three horizontal sections. Staircases further divide the cavea into four cunei, corresponding to the tribes of Argos A high wall was erected to prevent unauthorized access into the theatron and may have helped the acoustics, but it is said the sound quality is still very good today.
Around 120 CE, both theaters were renovated in the Roman style.