architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...

, a perron generally refers to an external stairway to a building. Curl notes three more-specific usages: the platform-landing reached by symmetrical flights of steps leading to the ''

piano nobile The ''piano nobile'' ( Italian for "noble floor" or "noble level", also sometimes referred to by the corresponding French term, ''bel étage'') is the principal floor of a palazzo. This floor contains the main reception and bedrooms of the h ...

'' of a building; the steps themselves; or the platform base of edifices like a

market cross A market cross, or in Scots, a mercat cross, is a structure used to mark a market square in market towns, where historically the right to hold a regular market or fair was granted by the monarch, a bishop or a baron. History Market crosses ...

.Curl, James Stevens (2006). ''Oxford Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture'', 2nd ed., OUP, Oxford and New York, p. 573. . Perron also refers to a type of Belgian civic monument, which usually sits on a perron. A perron may be placed in front of the main entrance of a building or house, either as a single stone staircase or pair of such staircases leading up to the entrance and built in the Romanesque or

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

styles and decorated with arches, balustrades and corbels. One of the largest and most impressive Baroque perrons is found outside

Girona Cathedral Girona Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral of Saint Mary of Girona (in Catalan: ''Catedral de Santa Maria de Girona'' or simply ''Catedral de Girona''), is a Roman Catholic church located in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It is the seat of the R ...

and consists of 90 steps on three flights of stairs. The Calà del Sasso in Upper Italy has 4,444 steps and is one of the largest outside staircases in Europe. Also well known are the

Spanish Steps The Spanish Steps ( it, Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti) in Rome, Italy, climb a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the Trinità dei Monti church, at the top. The monumental stairwa ...

in Rome, that lead from the

Piazza di Spagna Piazza di Spagna ("Spanish Square"), at the bottom of the Spanish Steps, is one of the most famous squares in Rome, Italy. It owes its name to the Palazzo di Spagna, the seat of the Embassy of Spain to the Holy See. There is also the famed Colum ...

to the church of Santa Trinità dei Monti. At the theatre of

Freilichtspiele Schwäbisch Hall Freilichtspiele Schwäbisch Hall is an open-air theatre in Schwäbisch Hall, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country ...

, the perron in front of the town church is the main stage for theatre productions. The

Strudlhofstiege The Strudlhofstiege is an outdoor staircase of architectural and literary significance in Vienna, Austria. Located in the Alsergrund district, it is named after a former art school run by the painter Peter Strudel ( – 1714). History About 1680 ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, an

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Moder ...

style perron, is well known because it forms the title of a novel by Heimito von Doderer. The ''Weinbergtreppe'' or '' Weinbergstaffel'' is the name given to the outside steps used in

vineyards A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vine ...

. They are very steep and are often placed between high vineyard walls. They are normally made of natural stone

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitr ...

Gallery

File:Girona 031.JPG,

File:Piazza di Spagna (Rome) 0004.jpg,

Trinità dei Monti The church of the Santissima Trinità dei Monti, often called merely the Trinità dei Monti (French: ''La Trinité-des-Monts''), is a Roman Catholic late Renaissance titular church in Rome, central Italy. It is best known for its position above ...

File:Schwaebisch hall 10.jpg,

File:Haus Harkorten.jpg, A perron at the entrance to Haus Harkorten in

Hagen Hagen () is the 41st-largest city in Germany. The municipality is located in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the south eastern edge of the Ruhr area, 15 km south of Dortmund, where the rivers Lenne and Volme (met by t ...

, Germany File:Radebeul Spitzhaustreppe.jpg, The Spitzhaustreppe stairs at

Radebeul Radebeul ( hsb, Radobyle) is a town (''große Kreisstadt'') in the Elbe valley in the district of Meißen in Saxony, Germany, a suburb of Dresden. It is well known for its viticulture, a museum dedicated to writer Karl May, and a narro ...

lead through the vineyard up to the ''Lößnitzhöhe''. They end at the

Bismarck tower A Bismarck tower (german: Bismarckturm) is a specific type of monument built according to a more or less standard model across Germany to honour its first chancellor, Otto von Bismarck (d. 1898). A total of 234 of these towers were inventoried b ...

near the ''Spitzhaus''. File:Ecuries de Chaumont-Laguiche.jpg, Two perrons lead to the upper floor of

François Blondel François Blondel ( June 1618 – 21 January 1686) was a soldier, engineer of fortifications, mathematician, diplomat, military and civil engineer and architect, called "the Great Blondel", to distinguish him in a dynasty of French architects. H ...

's 1652 stables at

Château de Chaumont-la-Guiche The French Château de Chaumont-la-Guiche r -Laguiche located in Saint-Bonnet-de-Joux (Saône-et-Loire), in a region formerly known as Charolais in southern Burgundy, was constructed beginning in 1500 for the .Babelon 1989, pp. 797–798. The ...

, France

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{{Authority control Stairways

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See also

References

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