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5 Original writings
The handbook De Architectura of Vitruvius is the only architectural writing that survived from Antiquity. After it was rediscovered in the 15th century, Vitruvius was instantly hailed as the authority on classical orders and architecture in general.
Architects of the Renaissance and the Baroque period in Italy based their rules on Vitruvius' writings. What was added was rules for superimposing the classical orders and the exact proportions of the orders down to the most minute detail.
6 Modernist approaches
Later the rules of the Renaissance and the Baroque period were disregarded and the original use of the orders was revived, often hailed as the 'correct' use of the orders. Many architects, however, used the Classical orders at their freedom.
In the 20th century the orders have often become ornaments and commonly been regarded as superfluous in modernist architecture. Instead columns of steel and reinforced concrete were used.
See also: Temple (Roman), Temple (Greek)
Ancient Roman architecture
