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ViGiLO - Din l-Art Ħelwa
ISSUE 56 • NOVEMBER 2021
Il-Bebbuxu tal-Majorka
TRACING THE HISTORY OF THE
GARIG R by Edward Cuschieri
The garigor is found within all building types in Malta and has provided a common experience for most of the inhabitants for centuries. However its attributes are not widely understood.
G
lorified by Andrea Palladio in his first treatise I quattro libri dell’ architettura in 1570, the garigor mainly owes its success and widespread use to its utilitarian purposes, as there is no other safer method of climbing up and down that can be accommodated within such a small vertical volume. Nevertheless, this creative and unique construction is more than a spiral staircase functioning for movement: the introduction and implementation of its open-eyed central void allows for lightness and vision for the users. In other words, the garigor is an unparalleled practical and beautiful geometric solution, and is different from its rudimentary predecessors as spiral staircases.
I quattro libri dell’architettura, Andrea Palladio
Traditional spiral staircases date back to classical times. The earliest one documented dates to around 480 BC within the remains of a temple in Selinunte, an ancient Greek city on the south-western coast of Sicily. One of the earliest known Roman influential designs was discovered within the central part of the colossal Trajan’s Column, dating to approximately the first century BC. However, all these early staircases held a central straight and vertically plumb column, called the newel, around which the steps rotate. The garigor’s elaborated geometry evolved where the newel would now also spiral, leaving a void in the centre.
Stairwell from I quattro libri dell'architettura, Andrea Palladio
Solid newelled spiral stairs
