Maybe it was The Dark Knight Rises.
Or finding out the prison in that film where Batman was thrown into is a real place.
Or maybe it was just seeing one for the first time many years ago—2008, to be exact—when I first visited India.
I don’t know.
But like those gargantuan, gross and imposing spomeniks we spent the winter of 2020 exploring, they just became this obsession.
So what is a stepwell, exactly?
Well (hey!), exactly what it sounds like—large wells with steps cascading down to the bottom.
Some are basic.
Some are ornate.
Some go only a few dozen feet.
Others hundreds.
A normal one like this doesn’t exactly wow the uninitiated.
It’s a hole.
With some steps.
Okay.
But when you get to the world’s most famous—Chand Baori, of which I did an IG Reel on—the one made famous from The Dark Knight Rises—then you’re getting into an architectural marvel.
I also did a Reel last year introducing them with a few more visuals.
And there are plenty of articles online about them.
But definitely a worthwhile investment of your time.
Stepwells and Spomeniks — has a nice coffeetable book ring to it, no?
I’ve been playing around with a friend’s (real) camera and who knows...
Maybe we end up doing it.
