Alberti, Leone Battista, Architecture, 1755

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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.
*
CHAP. V.
Of the Porticoes and Entrance to the Temple, its Aſcent, and the Apertures
and Interſpaces of the Portico.
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;

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