The orders of architecture are constructed using a system of proportions developed in Renaissance Italy that allows orders of any scale to be constructed with the same proportional relationships between parts. The diameter of the column shaft just above the base is designated the 'module,' and the module is divided into sixty parts called 'minutes.' The dimensions of all elements of the order are designated either in modules (such as the height of a column) or in minutes (such as the width and projection of an astragal or other small molding).
