Penrose stairs

[5] A variation on the Penrose triangle, it is a two-dimensional depiction of a staircase in which the stairs make four 90-degree turns as they ascend or descend yet form a continuous loop, so that a person could climb them forever and never get any higher.

Escher then discovered the Penrose stairs in the following year and made his now famous lithograph Klimmen en dalen (Ascending and Descending) in March 1960.

Roger showed his drawings to his father, who immediately produced several variants, including the impossible flight of stairs.

[10]Escher was captivated by the endless stairs and subsequently wrote a letter to the Penroses in April 1960: A few months ago, a friend of mine sent me a photocopy of your article...

Your figures 3 and 4, the 'continuous flight of steps', were entirely new to me, and I was so taken by the idea that they recently inspired me to produce a new picture, which I would like to send to you as a token of my esteem.

The video, filmed at Rochester Institute of Technology by Michael Lacanilao, was edited to create a seemingly cyclic stairwell such that if someone walks in either direction, they will end up where they started.

The video was revealed to be an Internet hoax, as individuals have travelled to Rochester Institute of Technology to view the staircase.