Alluminio Elivia Horizontal Wood Grain 2VS - Cherry - Swing

The two vertical panels (2VS) in this interior door model are like the two Pillars of Hercules, celebrated in numerous Greek and Roman tales as a symbol of strength. In ancient mythology, the Strait of Gibraltar – linking the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean – was created by Zeus’s son when he encountered a mountain he wished neither to climb over nor circumvent. Some versions have him asking the locals whether they had any particular use for the mountain before smashing through it. Some of the locals may or may not have asked for compensation. Other versions have Hercules widen a pre-existing straight, while in others he proceeds to narrow it instead. Be that as it may, the two promontories on either side of the waterway have borne his name ever since.

The powerful image inspired numerous designs – the long list includes (to give you an idea of the symbol’s versatility) the coat of arms of Spain, and to this day you can observe the two columns, originally the impressa of Charles I, on the wall of Seville’s city hall.

Horizontal denotes the direction of the wood grain – or its longitudinal orientation, to use a professional term: no more and no less. This is important, as it will create additional visual space for you, making the room appear wider. A vertically oriented wood grain would give additional visual height to your ceiling – if that’s the effect you prefer, you might want to look into the appropriate interior door model type in this collection.

Visual architectural devices – or tricks, to use a layman’s term – have been around for thousands of years, literally. The Greeks called them “optical correction,” somewhat humorously, one would think. Next time you visit Greece, you might as well take a closer look – at the temple, the theatre, and the palace, or what’s left of them, anyway – and you’ll be delighted to discover that the trick is as ubiquitous as it is effective. You might want to go straight to the source and look at the Parthenon first. It’s amazing: no column is as wide at the top as it is at the bottom; most of the columns are tilted inward; the bottom of the facade slopes down from the middle on both sides. Here’s why: if you position yourself at, say, a hundred yards from the entrance, everything in that building will suddenly come off as perfectly level, even, and symmetrical. Pretty neat, eh?

Of course this interior door comes with all the usual wonderful Almese features, such as the state-of-the-art hardware (including the Italian-made 3D-adjustable self-lubricating concealed hinges, soundless magnetic lock, and automatic sweep), excellent sound-proofing and thermal insulation qualities, warp resistance, and so forth. As for the finish (pick your color!), it is applied using a process known colloquially as “stretching.” It works on molecular level (yes!): rather than laid on, the finish is fused with the door’s surface. This makes the resulting product – this interior door – scratch-resistant and fade-proof. The technology was made available only recently – through a series of technological breakthroughs.

Very few paint jobs from Greek and Roman times are still extant (and even fewer interior doors), but whatever evidence we have of that scintillating epoch’s tastes would suggest that Cherry was the interior door finish of choice. The combination of the color and wood grain will impart warmth and cheeriness to any interior door model, clash with nothing, and be easy on the eyes – every time!

During the eight centuries of its turbulent and instructive existence (more, if you count the eastern half that continued on well into the Middle Ages), the Roman Empire experienced a large number of construction booms, each grander, more glorious, and encompassing more territory than the previous one; each transforming, and augmenting, and oftentimes improving upon everything built previously.

Octavian Augustus, technically the first Roman Emperor, famously boasted that he “found Rome a city of bricks” and was “leaving it a city of marble.” He may have been exaggerating a little, but, still, considering the fact that the population of Rome at its imperial peak was close to one million inhabitants, that’s a hell of a lot of construction, even though, sadly, very little evidence of Augustus’ building projects still remains. Time, negligence, barbarian invasions, and later-day owners’ and contractors’ unbridled vanity, took their toll. The temple, the palace, the theatre, the insula – it’s all gone, alas. Well, almost.

Emperor Hadrian, one of the “five good ones” and the greatest builder of them all, was an architect by training. Amazing, isn’t it? Moreover, he continued designing and supervising the construction of buildings throughout his reign. He made it is business to oversee many new projects personally, some of them in remote and backwoods regions, such as Northern England, paying close attention (go ahead, prove me wrong) to the design and durability of interior doors. An avid fan of the Greek school, he studded the vast territories, from Egypt to Gaul, and from the Iberian Peninsula to the Rhine, with numerous porticos and domes, all of his own design. Yes: even though most of his projects lie in ruins today, those noble remains speak volumes of the Emperor’s impeccable taste, and those few that are still intact are truly mind-blowing. (Not just the Pantheon, mind you, but all of them. The sheer scale of each project is awe-inspiring. Hadrian’s own villa, some thirty miles northeast of Rome, is really a miniature city, featuring actual streets, squares, plazas, three temples, five theatres, three bathing facilities, and a fully functional aqueduct all its own). (It is quite annoying, I must say, that most of the marble that used to adorn the walls of all those buildings was stripped away by Alexander Borgia’s grandson who was hellbent on building his own villa fifteen centuries after Hadrian’s death. He took most of the statues, too. Not cool. Yes, his villa is an astounding sight, and a tourist magnet, at that. So what).

Needless to say, construction on such a massive scale required a massive number of doors, including interior doors. All things being equal, it is safe to say that most of those featured some form of Cherry Finish, even though, surely, back in antiquity it must have gone by a different name.