When you look around the Timaru CBD you will see lots of columns! As well as serving as a support, they can be beautifully decorated to add to the athestics of a building. The invention of the column allowed for the support of ceilings without the use of solid walls. Columns increase the space spanned by a ceiling, allowing the entrance of light and offering an alternative aesthetic to building exteriorsYou will see some incorporated (engaged) within walls or be free-standing and carry sculpture.
The first use of columns was as a single central support for the roof of relatively small buildings but from the Bronze Age (3000-1000 BCE) more sophisticated columns with other functions beyond direct structural support appeared in the Egyptian, Assyrian and Minoan civilizations. The First Stone Columns can be seen in Greece when stone began to replace wood. Some were carved in one piece, as buildings became bigger, columns began to be constructed from separate drums. The evolution of columns in the ancient world has been classified within architectural orders. The three principal orders are Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.
Doric columns were wider at the bottom and had a simple capital but no base
Ionic columns stand on a base and have a capital in the form of a double scroll (volute).
Corinthian columns are usually slimmer and taller, stand on a base and have a richly decorated capital, usually with sculpted flower and leaf decoration.
These three all have vertical fluted carving. The Romans introduced the Tuscan column which had no flutes and a simple base and capital. Roman Doric columns were similar but with flutes. Composite columns appeared which mixed elements of the previous styles and finally, there were Solomonic columns with a twisted shaft.
The above image was created in 1892 by Leipzig und Wien.
Below are examples of columns that you can find in the Timaru Central Business District.
