Alberti, Leone Battista, Architecture, 1755

Page concordance

< >
< >
page |< < of 320 > >|
1pleaſing to the Eye, to make Part of them
ſquare
and Part round alternately, and anſwer­
ing
one to the other.
For the Aperture of
theſe
Chapels obſerve the following Rule.
When you are to make a ſingle Chapel in a
quadrangular
Temple, divide the Breadth of
the
Temple into four Parts, and give two of
thoſe
Parts to the Breadth of the Chapel.
If
you
have a Mind to have it more ſpacious, di­
vide
that Breadth into ſix Parts, and give four
of
them to the Breadth of your Chapel.
And
thus
the Ornaments and Columns which you
are
to add to them, the Windows, and the like,
may
be handſomely fitted in their proper
Places
.
If you are to make a Number of
Chapels
about a round Platform, you may, if
you
pleaſe, make them all of the ſame Size
with
the principal one; but to give that the
greater
Air of Dignity, I ſhould rather chuſe
to
have it a twelfth Part bigger than the reſt.
There is alſo this other Difference in quadran­
gular
Temples, that if the principal Chapel is
made
of equal Lines, that is to ſay, in an exact
Square
, it may not be amiſs; but the other
Chapels
ought to be twice as broad as they are
deep
.
The Solid of the Walls, or thoſe Ribs
of
the Building which in Temples ſeparate one
Chapel
from the other, ſhould never have leſs
Thickneſs
than the fifth Part of the Break
which
is left between them, nor more than the
third
; or, if you would have them extremely
ſtrong
, the half.
But in round Platforms, if
the
Chapels are in Number ſix, let the Solid or
Rib
which is left between each Chapel, be one
half
of the Break; and if there be eight of
thoſe
Chapels, let the ſolid Wall between them,
eſpecially
in great Temples, be as thick as the
whole
Break for the Chapel: But if the Plat­
form
conſiſt of a great Number of Angles, let

the
Solid always be one third of the Break.
In
ſome
Temples, according to the Cuſtom of the
ancient
Hetrurians, it has been uſual to adorn
the
Sides not with Chapels, but with a ſmall
Sort
of Iſles, in the following Manner: They
choſe
a Platform, which was one ſixth Part
longer
than it was broad: Of this Length they
aſſigned
two of thoſe ſix Parts to the Depth of
the
Portico, which was to ſerve as a Veſtibule
to
the Temple; the reſt they divided into three
Parts
, which they gave to the three Breadths of
the
ſide Iſles.
Again, they divided the Breadth
of
the Temple into ten Parts, three of which
they
aſſigned to the little Iſles on the right
Hand
, and as many to thoſe on the left, and
the
other four they gave to the Area in the
Middle
.
At the Head of the Temple, and ſo
fronting
the Middle of each ſide Iſle, they pla­
ced
Chapels, and the Walls which ſeparated
the
ſeveral Iſles they made in Thickneſs one
fifth
Part of the Interſpace.
*
Hitherto we have ſpoken of the
Platform
for the Inſide.
The Portico
to
a quadrangular Temple may be either only
in
Front, or on the Back of the Structure, or
elſe
both in the Front and the back Part at the
ſame
Time, or, laſtly, it may run quite round
the
Fabrick.
Where-ever any Chapel projects
out
, there ſhould be no Portico.
The Portico
ſhould
never be ſhorter, in quadrangular Tem­
ples
, than the full Breadth of the Temple;
and
never broader than the third Part of its
Length
.
In thoſe Porticoes which run along
the
Sides of the Temple, let the Columns be
ſet
as far from the Wall as they ſtand from one
another
.
The back Portico may imitate which
you
pleaſe of the afore-mentioned.
Circular
Temples
have either a Portico quite round
them
, or elſe have only one Portico, which
muſt
be in Front.
In both, the ſame Propor­
tions
muſt be obſerved as in thoſe to quadran­
gular
Platforms; nor indeed muſt ſuch Porti­
coes
be ever made other than quadrangular.
As to their Length, it muſt either be equal to
the
whole Breadth of the Inſide of the Plat­
form
, or an eighth Part leſs, or at the moſt a
fourth
Part, which is the ſhorteſt that is ever
allowed
.
The Hebrews, according to the an­
cient
Laws of their Forefathers, were to have
one
ſacred and chief City in a fit and conve­
nient
Place, and therein one ſingle Temple and
one
Altar built of Stones, not hewn by Men's
Hands
, but juſt ſuch as they could find, pro­
vided
they were white and clean; and there
was
to be no Steps to aſcend to this Temple;

Text layer

  • Dictionary
  • Places

Text normalization

  • Original
  • Regularized
  • Normalized

Search


  • Exact
  • All forms
  • Fulltext index
  • Morphological index