Classical order Classical order An order in architecture is a certain assemblage of parts subject to uniform established proportions, regulated by the office that each part has to perform. Coming down to the present from Ancient Greek and Ancient Roman civilization, the architectural orders are the styles of classical architecture, each distinguished by its proportions and characteristic profiles and details, and most readily recognizable by the type of column employed. The three orders of architecture—the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian—originated in Greece. To these the Romans added, in practice if not in name, the Tuscan, which they made simpler than Doric, and the
Corinthian order colonettes within the same system. During the 16th century, a sequence of engravings of the orders in architectural treatises helped standardize their details within rigid limits. Sebastiano Serlio; the "Regola delli cinque ordini" of Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola (1507–1573); the "Quattro libri di Architettura" of Andrea Palladio, and Vincenzo Scamozzi's "Idea della Architettura Universale," were followed in the 17th century by French treatises with further refined engraved models, such as Perrault's. Corinthian order The Corinthian order is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order which