Although it could be said that Classical architecture might owe its origins to the worlds of Ancient Greece and Rome, the classical ’language it produced has been in use ‘…as the common architectural language, inherited from Rome, of nearly the whole civilised world between the renaissance to our present time’. (Summerson)
Following on from this, discuss what the word Classical means when applied to Architecture. Trace its origins through Greek and Roman civilisations and identify the qualities which convey the nature of those two different cultures. Reference should be made to the ubiquitous nature of the continued use of classical style for so many buildings up to, and including our present times and why a style evolved so long ago still seems to resonate as being ‘appropriate’ in our very different contemporary cultures .