This quote from John Julius Norwhich's book, Great Architecture of The World , describes perfectly the reason for which the Parthenon in Athens, which is probably the most famous and most studied building on earth has had an incredible influence on modern and ancient architecture. Buildings even now continue to borrow parts of the doric order of which it is built. The Parthenon while deceptively simple in design is in fact an intricate and complex piece of architecture for which the ancient Greeks should be admired.

The Parthenon built by Pericles between 447 and 438 B.C. to immortalize the greatness of Athens and secure it a place in history did it's job very well. As mentioned before, the Parthenon is deceptively simple in design. It is simple because the structural elements are not overly complex. This is the result of a design process that focuses on determining the size and proportions of the columns, which are use

In Europe as well as the United States, you can see how the Parthenon directly affected the architecture of public and religious buildings constructed during the 19th Century. Even though the purpose of the buildings differed, their influence from the Parthenon's form is evident. The Second National Bank of the United States in Philadelphia has borrowed many feature of the Parthenon in its design as has the Mausoleum of Antonio Canova, in Possagno Italy. Also the Patent office in Washington D.C. is almost an exact replica of the Parthenon. Even in Salt Lake a look at the new courthouse and the old Masonic temple you can find the Doric influence.

This may explain it's continued fascination and use. It continues to have a psychological feeling of stability and permanence in its design it gives a feeling a law and order to it and its architecture. The Golden rectangle continues to be used not only in architecture but also in all form of art. Perhaps it is also the fact that the Parthenon appears so simplistic, a large rectangular room surrounded with a walkways to be held up by many Doric columns.

The Parthenon was the climax of over four centuries of Greek temple architecture. Though no original plans of the temple exist, it appears that the temple was built on a square root-of-5 rectangle, that is, it is Ö5 times as long as it is wide. These are also the dimensions of the longest side view of the temple. The Parthenon is littered with a (x to 2x + 1) system of proportions also known as the golden rectangle. These proportions are most readily evident in the plan of the temple which uses eight columns across its facade and sevent

Some common words found in the essay are:
Parthenon Athens, Salt Lake, , United Parthenon, United Philadelphia, golden rectangle, Architecture World, Washington DC, Italy Patent, Julius Norwhich's, parthenon deceptively simple, deceptively simple design, parthenon appears, built parthenon, simple design, deceptively simple, throughout design, nine ratio, parthenon deceptively, column center, parthenon built,
Approximate Word count = 1117
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)