# Staircase tower

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{{Short description|Type of building wing}}
{{No footnotes|date=September 2022}}
[[File:RAMPOUX (Lot) - Église Saint-Pierre-ès-Liens-002.jpg|thumb|Staircase tower with no external door on the church of ''Saint-Pierre-ès-Liens'' in [Rampoux](/source/Rampoux) ([Lot](/source/Lot_(departement))), France]]

A '''staircase tower''' or '''stair tower''' ({{langx|de|Treppenturm}}, also ''Stiegenturm'' or ''Wendelstein'') is a [tower](/source/tower)-like [wing](/source/wing_(building)) of a [building](/source/building) with a [circular](/source/rotunda) or [polygon](/source/polygon)al [ground plan](/source/floor_plan) that contains a [stairwell](/source/stairwell), usually a [helical staircase](/source/helical_staircase).

== History ==
Only a few examples of staircase towers have survived from ancient times (e.g. on the [Imperial Baths in Trier](/source/Imperial_Baths_(Trier))); staircases were often superfluous on the only single-storey buildings or were built into the outer walls of buildings that were often several feet thick. This tradition continued in the keeps (''[donjon](/source/donjon)s''), churches and castles of the early and high Middle Ages; and this situation only changed with the increasing construction of purpose-built and generally rather undecorated staircase towers of the High and Late Middle Ages ([Romanesque](/source/Romanesque_architecture) and [Gothic architecture](/source/Gothic_architecture) styles).

Since the [Renaissance](/source/Renaissance_architecture) period, staircase towers were markedly more decorative and representative of status. Stairs were now rarely hidden or built externally, but there were both artistically designed, curved and straight-running staircases inside the building with ornate ceilings and railings (e. g. [Château de Chambord](/source/Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Chambord), [Palazzo Barberini](/source/Palazzo_Barberini) and [Château d'Azay-le-Rideau](/source/Ch%C3%A2teau_d'Azay-le-Rideau) or [Château de Chenonceau](/source/Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Chenonceau)). With the increasing construction of straight staircases with intermediate landings (the modern [stairwell](/source/stairwell)s) separate staircase towers became gradually rarer.

== Examples ==
[[File:Château de Blois - Façade Intérieure.jpg|thumb|[Château de Blois](/source/Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Blois), France]]
thumb|Wasserschloss Bad Rappenau, Germany

;France
* Former abbey church of [Saint-Menoux](/source/Saint-Menoux)
* [Château de Blois](/source/Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Blois), [Loire region](/source/Loire_(departement))
* [Château de Chambord](/source/Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Chambord), Loire region
* [Château de Tanlay](/source/Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Tanlay), département of [Yonne](/source/Yonne)

;Germany
* [Albrechtsburg](/source/Albrechtsburg), [Meißen](/source/Mei%C3%9Fen)
* [Lutherhaus](/source/Augusteum_und_Lutherhaus_Wittenberg), [Wittenberg](/source/Lutherstadt_Wittenberg)
* [Latscha](/source/Jakob_Latscha) Building, [Frankfurt](/source/Frankfurt_am_Main)-[Ostend](/source/Frankfurt-Ostend), [Hesse](/source/Hesse)
* [Dresden Castle](/source/Dresden_Castle), [Dresden](/source/Dresden)
* [Bertholdsburg Castle](/source/Bertholdsburg_Castle), [Schleusingen](/source/Schleusingen), [Thuringia](/source/Thuringia)
* [Hartenfels Palace](/source/Hartenfels_Palace), [Torgau](/source/Torgau)
* [Schloss Johannisburg](/source/Schloss_Johannisburg), [Aschaffenburg](/source/Aschaffenburg), [Franconia](/source/Franconia_(region))
* [Schloss Köthen](/source/Schloss_K%C3%B6then) ([Anhalt](/source/Anhalt))
* [Weitersroda Castle](/source/Weitersroda_Castle), [Hildburghausen](/source/Hildburghausen), [Thuringia](/source/Thuringia)
* [Wilhelmsburg Castle](/source/Wilhelmsburg_Castle), [Schmalkalden](/source/Schmalkalden), [Thuringia](/source/Thuringia)

;Ireland
*[Reeves Castle](/source/Reeves_Castle), County Kildare

== See also ==
* [Traboule](/source/Traboule), a special type of staircase tower

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Hans Koepf, [Günther Binding](/source/G%C3%BCnther_Binding): ''Bildwörterbuch der Architektur.'' Kröner, Stuttgart, 2001, {{ISBN|978-3-520-19404-6}}

== External links ==
* {{wiktionary-inline}}
{{Commonscat|position=left|Staircase towers}}

Category:Stairways
Category:Towers
Category:Rooms
Category:Architectural elements
Category:Architectural terminology

{{Architecturalelement-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Staircase tower](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staircase_tower) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staircase_tower?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.