Fire Brigade called to release family trapped in Escher exhibition
- rogt
- 4 hours ago
- 1 min read
The emergency services were called to the Escher exhibition at Somerset House on London’s Embankment this week to free a family from Guilford who had become trapped in the staircase leading from the ground-floor up to what they thought was the first floor, only it turned out to be the ground-floor again which led – how can it? – back down but also up to the ground-floor again where they found themselves going down and also up – again! – to the basement? oh this is hopeless, Mum needs the toilet and God knows which floor that’s on, and the football’s on later if we ever get out of this wretched place….
Fire officer Peter Chambers from Shaftesbury Avenue Fire Station said: “When we got there, they’d already been going up and down all morning and were getting quite distressed. We call it the Hotel California syndrome. You can check out whenever you want, but you can never leave. Sort of reminds me of shopping at Ikea. That’s where the name comes from, by the way. When you’ve walked through every room in the store you suddenly realise you’ve no ikea how to get out of the place.”
The exhibition runs until 6 September 2026, provided any remaining trapped art lovers can be released.
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Image: ChatGPT