Architecture: A Very Short Introduction

_{17. Model of Temple of Juno Sospita, Lanuvium — Etruscan temple, according to Vitruvius (5th century BC). The building shown here is a model made following the description of an Etruscan temple given by Vitruvius in section 7 of the fourth of his Ten Books of Architecture. It is therefore a Roman architect’s idea of the ancient type of Roman temple, before the days of the empire. The walls of the cella were made of sun-dried mud-brick, which is vulnerable to water. Therefore the building was raised up on a stone base, to keep the walls clear of ground water. The columns were of timber, and the buildings were not large by later standards, and the spacing between the columns is shown as much wider than would become characteristic later on. Then the building would have been in stone, which needs sturdier proportions because although it is very strong when downward pressure is applied, it will crumble easily if it is pushed sideways or bent. The roof was given a wide overhang, again to protect the walls from water — this time from falling rain. There are three rooms in the cella, arranged across the podium. This is the type of temple that the Romans built before they had learnt to emulate the Greeks’ masonry and artistry in making monumental buildings.}

So, going back to the Maison Carrée at Nîmes (Figure 13) which is the best preserved of the typical Roman temples, we can see a cultural memory of the old Etruscan temple, overlaid with the sophisticated architecture of the Greek temple. There is an enclosed room at one end of the platform in which the cult statue would have been, looking out through the doorway to the public altar where sacrifices were made. The outside of the wall of this room (called the ‘cella’) however is sculpted to remind one of the row of columns that runs right the way round a Greek temple.

Memory