Journalist spends four years documenting India's disappearing stepwells (cool pictures)

[Recursion]

http://imgur.com/gallery/oSiUa

More at the link. Also info at Wiki. If you're in India, you'll mostly see these in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Punjab.

Across India an entire category of architecture is slowly crumbling into obscurity, and you’ve probably never even heard it. The massive subterranean temples were designed as a primary way to access the water table in regions where the climate vacillates between blisteringly dry during most months, with a few weeks of torrential monsoons in the spring.



Construction of stepwells involved not just the sinking of a typical deep cylinder from which water could be hauled, but the careful placement of an adjacent, stone-lined “trench” that, once a long staircase and side ledges were embedded, allowed access to the ever-fluctuating water level which flowed through an opening in the well cylinder.



In dry seasons, every step—which could number over a hundred—had to be negotiated to reach the bottom story. But during rainy seasons, a parallel function kicked in and the trench transformed into a large cistern, filling to capacity and submerging.



This ingenious system for water preservation continued for a millennium.

[CBGLuthier]

1. I remember the one they used in the movie The Fall

It is called Chand Baori and is over 1,000 years old

[cantbeserious]

2. Fascinating

eom

[adigal]

3. These are unbelievable. Beautiful and so well thought out

Amazingly built. I find these so fascinating. I could imagine spending hours and ours just looking at these in awe. So much more interesting to me than places like the Taj Mahal, in my view.

I also want to see the catacombs. I love this stuff!

[LuvNewcastle]

4. Thanks for posting these.

The patterns and symmetry are mesmerizing. Like adigal said above, I could look at one of those things for hours. I'd like to smoke a bowl and sit back and drink it all in.

[octoberlib]

5. These are beautiful

[BlueJazz]

6. I was able to see three of them when I visited Indian. They truly are a work of art.

I wish there was a way (and the money) to restore these beautiful creations.

[smiley]

7. reminds me of an MC Escher drawing.

[MineralMan]

8. Fascinating. I was unaware of these.

I can imagine people with buckets going down and up those steps. Human-powered technology.