The Doric order is the oldest and most austere of the classical architectural orders, arising in ancient Greece around the seventh century BC. It embodies masculinity, severity, and monumentality in architecture.
Key features of the Doric order:
- Columns with no base, standing directly on the stylobate (the platform of the foundation)
- Squat proportions: column height is typically 5-7 diameters
- Column shafts feature flutes — vertical grooves with sharp ridges between them
- Entasis — a slight thickening in the lower third of the column shaft
- A simple capital, made up of a round cushion (echinus) and a square slab (abacus)
- An entablature comprising the architrave, a frieze with alternating triglyphs and metopes, and a cornice
In Russia, the Doric order was widely used in Neoclassical and Empire-style architecture from the late eighteenth through the first half of the nineteenth century. It was especially popular during the period of strict Classicism, when architects sought simplicity, monumentality, and fidelity to ancient models. Architects such as Zakharov, Voronikhin, Stasov, and Rossi frequently used the Doric order in their designs for public buildings, since it emphasized state power and stability.
By the late twentieth century, including the 1990s period the novel depicts, many Soviet-era buildings with classical order elements had grown rather shabby. This was especially true of research institutes, libraries, and other institutions built in the Stalinist Empire style or Soviet Neoclassicism. The appearance of these buildings, with their once-majestic but now weathered Doric columns, created a striking contrast with the new realities of post-Soviet Russia, symbolizing the decay of a bygone era and its ideals.
Interestingly, in genuine classical Greek architecture the Doric order was never paired with «elaborate curlicues» — this points, rather, to the eclecticism typical of Russian architecture, or to a later distortion of the classical style characteristic of provincial or late-Soviet construction.