Selaron Steps

In 1990, Chilean-born artist Jorge Selarón began an obsessive, self-funded tribute to his adopted home, transforming a dilapidated flight of 215 steps linking the bohemian enclave of Lapa with the hilltop neighborhood of Santa Teresa. What started as a modest reclamation project using discarded fragments in the green, yellow, and blue of the Brazilian flag evolved into an ever-shifting, 125-meter-long mosaic staircase. Selarón constantly swapped out pieces, financing the work through his paintings and declaring the installation would only end upon his death—a grim premonition realized when he was found dead on the steps in 2013. Ascending the steep gradient, visitors move through a kaleidoscopic corridor framed by radiant crimson walls. The staircase contains over 2,000 ceramic tiles, mirrors, and porcelain fragments sent by admirers from more than 60 countries, interspersed with hundreds of Selarón’s own hand-painted tiles depicting his signature motif: an enigmatic, pregnant Afro-Brazilian woman. Sunlight glints off fractured ceramics while the rhythms of live samba and street vendors drift upward from Rua Manuel Carneiro below. Looking closely at the treads, travelers encounter an anarchic archive of world history trapped in glaze—ranging from vintage European city crests and pop-culture icons to hand-scrawled traveler messages—turning an everyday municipal passage into a tactile, immersive outdoor gallery.