Once thought to symbolise the gateway to the afterlife, the history of the door is fascinating indeed. The earliest doors were made from wood, with examples dating back thousands of years and some are still in existence today. As far as we know, ancient doors were all made using the same method: that of a frame hanging from two pivots inserted into sockets at the top and bottom. It is perhaps unsurprising that given their symbolic connotations, many of the world&#;s oldest portals can be found on religious buildings.
In , archaeologists found what is believed to be the oldest door ever found in Europe while carrying out excavations for a car park. Incredibly, examination of the poplar-wood door&#;s tree rings shows it is likely to have been made in 3,063BC.
We mentioned it in our London doors blog, but this article would be incomplete without including Britain&#;s oldest door at Westminster Abbey, first put in place in the s. Mysterious fragments fastened to the outside were once thought to be flayed human skin, but have now been proved to be cow hide.
This red granite door belonging to the tomb of a senior official called User and his wife Toy was discovered by archaeologists in . Egyptian tombs contained false doors to take the spirits of the dead to the afterlife.
One of the world&#;s oldest libraries, having been founded in the ninth century, the Al-Qarawiyyn was renovated and re-opened in .
The age of the door to the manuscript room is unclear, but we include it for this very interesting detail: the original door had four locks with four keys owned by four people, who all had to be present to open it.
Times change, and that system has now been replaced by a four digit access code.
These large stone doors, each carved from a single boulder, now lie nonchalantly on the ground at the former Royal Enclosure at Hampi &#; once home to the rulers of the Vijayanagara Empire, which lasted from the 14th to the 17th centuries. The site is now popular with tourists.
Fragments from the remains of these once magnificent gates can be found in the British Museum, along with full-size replicas and bronze reliefs from the originals.
These magnificent bronze doors date back to around and show ornately carved scenes from the book of Genesis. Weighing a hefty 1.85 tonnes each, they are made from gunmetal and cast from a single mould.
The door on the Basilica of Saint Sabina in Rome is thought to be the original, dating back to 430-2, although not in the doorway in which it now stands.
Eighteen of its wooden panels still survive, one featuring one of the earliest depictions of Christ&#;s crucifixion.
The north door to this medieval grade 1 listed church effortlessly bridges the gap between architecture and nature, flanked as it is by yew trees &#; traditional symbols of death.
We know we said that Westminster Abbey housed Britain&#;s most venerable door, but another contender can be found here at St Botolph&#;s, whose Saxon entrance door is still in use after 1,000 years &#; making it the oldest still in use in the UK.
If you want to learn more, please visit our website Chaoda.
Here&#;s a history lesson.
The first recorded history of doors was found in Egyptian tomb paintings year&#;s ago. No one knows who invented the door, only that it was first incepted somewhere in central Egypt. In ancient Egyptian architecture, a false door was a wall decoration that looked like a window, it was common in tombs and represented a gate to the afterlife.
In Biblical times, King Solomon&#;s temple entry doors were made of olive-wood, as were many entry doors of the past. In India, there are ancient doors made out of stone, creatively designed with stone pivots to swing open.
As time progressed and advancements were made, the Romans used their creative architectural minds to create more advanced doors. These doors were usually made out of bronze and included the use of single, double, sliding, and folding doors.
In Roman Religion, Janus was the Roman god of doors and archways. As the Romans were suspicious people, during times of war, there were lucky and unlucky ways for an army to march through a Janus (door). The Janus Germinus is a famous door in Rome, a shrine for the Roman god Janus. It stands as a simple rectangular bronze structure with double doors at each end and was closed during times of peace, open during times of war.
The first recorded automatic door was created in the 1st century AD during the era of Roman Egypt by a Greek scholar known as Heron of Alexandria. If we&#;re talking about ingenuity, leave it to the Chinese to create the first foot-sensor-activated door during the reign of Emperor of Yang of Sui, ruling from 604 to 618.
During the 12th and 13th centuries in medieval times, &#;The Symbol At Your Door&#; was significant. Differing seals could stand for reputation, prestige, status, and wealth. These doors were created from whatever material was available in the region; copper and bronze were integral materials for medieval architecture &#; the base material for doors were mainly strong oak.
Whether the entry door was for a cathedral or a castle, they were constructed in a plywood fashion and would be held together with steel studs, reinforced with steel iron bands &#; meant to proof against small forces.
Craftsmanship was at it&#;s finest in the 16th and 17th century, in a time period known as the renaissance. This era was considered the bridge between the Middle Ages and modern history. A time when intellectual pursuits prevailed and art techniques were refined by masters like Michelangelo and Da Vinci. Classical Greek designs were incorporated into cathedrals and monuments to bring forth a new realism in sculpture and craftsmanship.
Renaissance Spanish style doors were studded with hundreds of hand-forged iron clavos or nails. Tuscan style doors from the hills of Italy were of great beauty, their borders were adorned with figures, birds, and foliage. For many of these iron doors, rectangular panels were filled with bas-reliefs (sculpture, carving, or mold) in which scripture subjects are illustrated with innumerable figures. Michelangelo described doors of the renaissance era as &#;gates to paradise.&#;
As religion reigned supreme during the renaissance. The finest French doors were first created for cathedrals and were characterized by their Gothic details, coats of arms, and/or royal and period motifs. Many French doors were primarily carved from fine cedarwood. The most majestic doors had high canopies and a double range of niches ( classical architecture reduced in size, retaining the half-dome) with figures.
Years later, French doors were enriched with bas-reliefs, landscapes, figures, and elaborate interlaced borders.
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