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# Jacob's Ladder on the west façade of Bath Abbey and in church art
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/v-shkole-uchili-takuiu-pesniu-chtoby-popast-na-nebo-nuzhna-lestnitsa-i-eshche-odna-veshch-srazu-vspomnil-ee-slova-kogda-uvidel-sobornuiu-stenu-v-abbatstve-angliiskogo-goroda-bat-s-lestn/
- Published: 2024-03-13T05:31:58.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T18:45:12.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Architecture, Faith, Observations

At school we were taught a song, "to get to heaven you need a ladder and one more thing", and I remembered its words at once when I saw the cathedral wall of the abbey in the English city of Bath, with Jacob's Ladder. A sculpted ladder on either side of the main window has become a feature of the church's west front, and angels descend it to the abbey and ascend from it.

Jacob's Ladder is a frequent element of church art and corresponds to the Old Testament episode in which the biblical patriarch Jacob sees a ladder in a dream. One of the Church Fathers, the Greek bishop Irenaeus, compared the Christian church itself to a ladder set up between earth and heaven.

I wish everyone a good morning, and do not forget the stairway to heaven and one more thing

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_11500@13-03-2024_08-31-58.jpg)

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_11501@13-03-2024_08-31-58.jpg)

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_11502@13-03-2024_08-31-58.jpg)