Why Greek Temples Do Not Have Windows
Fig. 8 and 9. Windows of the main bedrooms. Villa Mairea.
But let us not lose our temporal thread and go back to ancient Greece, to question an absence: Why Greek temples do not have windows?
Marco Vitruvius says of the Doric temples, in the fourth of his ten books on architecture, that "is not possible, as some mistakenly said that the triglyphs represent windows; as triglyphs are placed at the corners of the building over the two quarters of the columns, in which site are not openable windows, because the joints of the angles of the building would be unleashed" .
The Greek temple is not intended for man. It is the house of God, a place of worship. Men meet on the outside, but they must not be inside, nor look from the inside to the outside.
But let us not lose our temporal thread and go back to ancient Greece, to question an absence: Why Greek temples do not have windows?
Marco Vitruvius says of the Doric temples, in the fourth of his ten books on architecture, that "is not possible, as some mistakenly said that the triglyphs represent windows; as triglyphs are placed at the corners of the building over the two quarters of the columns, in which site are not openable windows, because the joints of the angles of the building would be unleashed" .
The Greek temple is not intended for man. It is the house of God, a place of worship. Men meet on the outside, but they must not be inside, nor look from the inside to the outside.