Doric order facts for kids

A Doric order temple, the Parthenon, Greece

Doric features

Doric order was one of the three orders of architecture in Ancient Greece; the other two orders were Corinthian order and Ionic order. The order was named after the style of columns used in buildings. It included the base, the shaft, the top (capital), and the part supported at the top; the architrave, the frieze and the cornice. Each order has its own style.

Doric was the earliest style and used by the Greeks for most of their buildings and temples, including the Parthenon. It is believed that the style was first made using wood. The style features heavy columns, a saucer shaped capital on the top, and no base.

Doric style

The numbers refer to the picture on the right
The columns (17) are fluted (18), which means they have about 20 grooves cut into them. The top of the column, the capital (14) is made up of a group of annulets. The saucer shaped piece is called the echinus (16). Above this is a square piece of stone, called the abacus (15), on the top. This supports the entablature, which is about one third of the height of the column. This is made up of a plain architrave (13) and a frieze with triglyphs (8). Between the triglyphs are square spaces, called metopes (9), which can be used for sculptures. Above this is a cornice with large blocks called mutules (5), which overhang the frieze. The lower surface of these blocks are called the soffit. Above this the block of stone has a plain vertical face called the corona. It is finished on the top with more decorations.

Parts of the frieze sculptures from the Parthenon were removed in the 1800's and taken to the British Museum. They are known as the Elgin Marbles.

Images for kids

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  The Doric order of the Parthenon. Triglyphs marked "a", metopes "b", guttae "c" and mutules under the soffit "d".

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  Two early Archaic Doric order Greek temples at Paestum (Italy) with much wider capitals than later

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  Entry to the Bibliothèque Mazarine (Paris), with four Doric columns in this photo.

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  Temple of the Delians, Delos; 19th-century pen-and-wash drawing

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  The Doric corner conflict

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  The Roman Doric order from the Theater of Marcellus: triglyphs centered over the end column

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  The Grange (nearby Northington, England), 1804, Europe's first house designed with all external detail of a Greek temple

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  Original Doric polychromy

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  Upper parts, labelled

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  Three Greek Doric columns

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  The Five Orders, originally illustrated by Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, 1640

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  The ruins of the Temple of Poseidon from Sounion (Greece), 444–440 BC

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  Exterior of the Great Tomb of Lefkadia, circa 300 BC

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  Capital on the Parthenon from Athens

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  Venus Temple at Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli (Italy), detail from the roof

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  Fragment of an Ancient Roman Doric frieze in Palestrina (Italy)

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  Temple of Athena, Assos in Turkey

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  Renaissance marble altar enframement, circa 1530–1550, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)

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  Engraving of a Doric entablature from Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae, 1536, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art

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  Engraving of a Doric capital from Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae, circa 1537, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art

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  The monumental fireplace in the ballroom of the Palace of Fontainebleau (France), with a Doric frieze on it

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  Door between a pair of Doric pilasters, in Montpellier (France)

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  Door between a pair of Doric pilasters, in Enkhuizen (the Netherlands)

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  Capital of a Doric pilaster from Lviv (Ukraine)

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  Die Sünde, by Franz Stuck, from 1893, in a frame with a pair of engaged Doric columns

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  Interior of the Metropolitan Museum of Art with Doric columns

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  The entrance of La Sorbonne from Paris, with a pair of Doric columns and an entablature with triglyphs and empty metopes

See also

In Spanish: Orden dórico para niños