Orders of Classical Architecture .

The first step in architecture was simply the replacement of wooden pillars with stone ones, and the translation of the carpentry and brick structural forms into stone equivalents. This provided an opportunity for the expression of proportion and pattern. This expression eventually took the form of the invention or evolution of the stone “ orders “ of architecture. These orders, or arrangements of specific types of columns supporting an upper section called an entablature, defined the pattern of the columnar facades and upperworks that formed the basic decorative shell of buildings.

The Greek invented the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders. The Romans added the Tuscan and the Composite.

The oldest order, the Doric, is subdivided into Greek Doric and Roman Doric. The first is the simplest and has baseless columns as those of the Parthenon. Roman Doric had a base and was less massive.

The parts of Greek Doric – the simple, baseless columns, the spreading capitals, and alternating vertically ridged and plain blocks frieze above the columns - constitute an aesthetic development in stone incorporating variants on themes used functionally in earlier wood and brick construction. Doric long remained the favourite order of the Greek mainland and western colonies, and it changed little throughout its history.

Vocabulary:

# replacement - замiна;

# pillar - стовп, колона, опора;

# eventually - в кiнцi кiнцiв;

# arrangement - розмiщення;

# to define - визначати;

# pattern - модель, зразок;

# shell - (тут) оболонка, каркас;

# spreading - що поширюється;

# alternating - що чергується;

# ridged - що має борозди, кромку.

Order, in classical architecture, consisted of a column and an entablature. Orders served as the basic elements of Greek and Roman architecture and influenced many later styles.

Column is a vertical support. In an order, it consists of a shaft and a capital and often rests on a base.

Capital, in an order, forms the upper part of a column. It separates the shaft from the entablature.

Entablature refers to the upper horizontal part of an order between a capital and the roof. It consists of three major parts -- the architrave, frieze and cornice.

Frieze forms the middle part of an entablature and is often decorated with a horizontal band of relief sculpture.

Doric order was the first and simplest of the three Greek orders. The Doric is the only under that normally has no base.

Ionic order was the second of the three Greek orders. It has a capital with carved spiral rolls called volutes.

Corinthian order became the last of the three Greek orders. It resembles the Ionic order but has an elaborate capital that is decorated with carvings of leaves of the acanthus plant.

Composite order is a Roman order. It resembles the Corinthian order but has a capital that combines the Corinthian acanthus leaf decoration with volutes from the Ionic order.

Tuscan order, a Roman order, resembles the Doric order, but the shaft has no fluting.