Escadaria Selarón

Why go

The pleasure lies in looking beyond the broad red, green, blue and yellow pattern to individual tiles, mirrors and hand-painted figures. Because the staircase rises between two neighborhoods, it also turns an ordinary urban connection into an unusually personal artwork.

What to look for

• More than 2,000 tiles from over 60 countries cover roughly 250 steps.
• Around 300 tiles were hand-painted by Selarón and repeat the figure of a pregnant woman.
• The staircase runs from Joaquim Silva and Pinto Martins streets between Lapa and Santa Teresa.

The full story

Chilean-born artist Jorge Selarón settled in Rio in 1983 and began repairing the worn steps outside his home in 1990. What started with fragments in the colours of Brazil’s flag expanded into an artwork covering the full stairway with tiles, ceramics and mirrors. Selarón funded much of the work by selling paintings, while visitors later contributed tiles from around the world. He treated the staircase as unfinished and repeatedly altered sections, so its identity came from continuous change rather than a single completion date. One recurring detail remains especially intriguing: hundreds of his hand-painted tiles show a pregnant African woman, an image he declined to explain beyond calling it personal. The steps eventually spilled toward the foot of the Arcos da Lapa and became inseparable from the route between Lapa and Santa Teresa. Their power comes from that overlap—monumental artwork, neighborhood passage and the record of one artist’s sustained labour.

Useful to know

• Climb beyond the crowded lower flights to inspect how the tile patterns change up the staircase.
• Wear secure shoes: this is a long working stairway, not a flat mosaic plaza.
• Combine the steps with the Arcos da Lapa below or continue uphill into Santa Teresa.

Your next visit

Estimated · Declared scenario and planning estimates; no live opening, weather, queue or booking service.