Get in your steps

This multi-directional staircase looks a bit like an M.C. Escher mindbender found its way into reality, but the seemingly infinite steps had a practical purpose in the past. Known as a baori, vav, or stepwell, this type of chamber was dug deep enough to penetrate the water table, filling it up like a well. During dry periods when levels were low, people could use the stairs to reach the water far below. Originating in the 7th century, stepwells of various shapes and sizes are found all over western India and other arid parts of South Asia. The pictured Panna Meena Ka Kund, a 16th-century stepwell in Jaipur, is a classic example of the geometric architecture that appears in these useful public works.