Up a seemingly endless winding staircase is a room whose frescoes are alive with symbolism.

ECONOMIST: The Vatican turns a page��slowly

In Chapter restaurant, designed by Tokyo's Spin Studio, a winding iron staircase leads to a mezzanine of book-filled shelves. (It's mostly decorative, though select guests are invited to venture up there.) White perforated screens over the floor-to-ceiling windows filter the light.

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His lasting contribution here, he said, was to point out that instead of lugging each sheep up the beautiful winding stone staircase, anaesthetising it and diagnosing pregnancy by opening it up, one could merely feel its belly while it was still outside.

ECONOMIST: Mont Liggins | The