Visitors' first views of the convent's splendor begin with the theatrical granite stairway, splashed with splendid 17th-century frescoes from floor to ceiling.
Visitors' first views of the convent's squalor begin with the rotten wooden stairway. 
mnli hypothesis: Visitors' first views of the convent's squalor begin with the rotten wooden stairway.  premise: Visitors' first views of the convent's splendor begin with the theatrical granite stairway, splashed with splendid 17th-century frescoes from floor to ceiling.