The Selarón Steps connect the Santa Teresa neighbourhood to Lapa via a 125-metre staircase of 215 steps tiled in a dazzling collage of over 2,000 pieces of ceramic from around 60 countries. Chilean-born artist Jorge Selarón began the project in 1990 as a personal obsession and kept adding and rearranging tiles until his death in 2013. People from all over the world have sent tiles to be incorporated — the collection includes Portuguese azulejos, Brazilian faience, fragments of mirrors, and broken china from dozens of countries.
The steps are at their best in the morning before the tourist crowds arrive. They were used as a setting in several international music videos and films, which has made them one of Rio's most photographed spots. The neighbourhood of Lapa at the bottom is the centre of Rio's samba and choro scene — if you come on a Friday night, the surrounding streets are a massive open-air party.