Doric order facts for kids

The Doric order was one of the main styles of building in Ancient Greece. The other two styles were called the Corinthian order and the Ionic order. Each style, or 'order,' had its own special look, especially for the columns. A Doric building included parts like the base, the tall column (called a shaft), the top part of the column (called a capital), and the section above the columns (called the entablature), which had an architrave, a frieze, and a cornice.

A Doric order temple, the Parthenon, Greece

Features of the Doric style

The Doric style was the oldest of the three. Ancient Greeks used it for many of their important buildings and temples, like the famous Parthenon in Athens. People think this style first started with buildings made of wood. Doric columns look strong and heavy. They have a simple, round top part (capital) that looks like a saucer, and they don't have a separate base at the bottom.

Doric Style Details

The numbers refer to the picture on the right The columns (17) in the Doric style have about 20 grooves cut into them. These grooves are called flutes (18).

The very top of the column is called the capital (14). It is made of a few small rings called annulets. Above these rings is a saucer-shaped piece called the echinus (16). On top of the echinus is a square stone block called the abacus (15). This abacus supports the entablature.

The entablature is the part of the building that rests on top of the columns. It is usually about one-third the height of the column. The entablature has three main parts:

• The architrave (13) is a plain, flat beam right above the columns.
• Above the architrave is the frieze. The frieze has special blocks called triglyphs (8). These blocks have three vertical grooves.
• Between the triglyphs are square spaces called metopes (9). Sometimes, these metopes were decorated with sculptures.

Above the frieze is the cornice. The cornice has large blocks called mutules (5) that stick out over the frieze. The bottom surface of these blocks is called the soffit. Above this, there is a plain, flat stone face called the corona. The very top of the cornice often has more decorations.

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