Trappenhuis van het koninklijk paleis in Berlijn, vermoedelijk het Kronprinzenpalais 1868 - 1871

Curator: Looking at this old photograph, I immediately feel like I'm stepping into a grand opera set. The staircase in this gelatin silver print, probably taken somewhere between 1868 and 1871, it’s just asking for a dramatic entrance. Editor: Yes, a silent movie actress could swish her skirt here...But there's an austerity, too, despite the flourish of the angel statues in their niches. It reminds me of theatre, you're right, everything meticulously staged, yet frozen. Curator: It's a print of Johann Friedrich Stiehm called, "Trappenhuis van het koninklijk paleis in Berlijn, vermoedelijk het Kronprinzenpalais". What intrigues me most is its stark simplicity. It speaks volumes about the Neoclassical tastes. Those angels are almost ironically placed... Editor: Angels... Always intermediaries between earthly and divine power. See how they're rigidly placed within classical niches supported by rather slim columns? They’re not joyful, more like functional decorations. Curator: That's such an interesting take, function over feeling! It gives the space a sort of cold monumentality. You almost forget the function of a staircase to begin with - it's all about ascension, about moving toward the symbolic weight represented by those statues. Editor: Stairs are potent symbols themselves: rising in status, spiritual transcendence. It is compelling here: these stark grey stairs feel both monumental, in the scale, but also completely functional for what must have been a very regimented court. Even in how the photograph renders space, the repetition, the angles feel severe. Curator: Right. But perhaps it’s a romantic austerity. It gives me goosebumps wondering what stories this space has soaked up, and what kinds of drama played out on those steps. Stiehm captured a perfect snapshot, no pun intended, of a bygone era's aspirations, rigid structures with the softness of an angelic ideal looming above. Editor: I leave now seeing a space for transformation but a story not one of freedom of expression... but of obligation and expectation of someone ascending the hierarchy through ritual action! Thanks for a walk through a photo holding so many implications.