**History and Construction of Doors:**
– Earliest doors seen in Egyptian tombs, made of timber like olive wood, elm, cedar
– Doors in Egypt not framed due to dry climate; framed doors in other countries with stiles and rails
– Stone doors found in archaeological sites like Zürich and Persepolis
– Doors made of various materials like wood, metal, glass
– Different door types: hinged, sliding, folding, spinning
– Components of a door: stiles, rails, top rail, bottom rail
– Historical doors overlaid with gold, silver, or brass
**Functionality and Security of Doors:**
– Primary purpose of a door is security and controlling access
– Doors provide privacy, separate areas, control light and ventilation
– Can dampen noise and block fire spread
– Doors often have locking mechanisms for security
**Symbolism of Doors:**
– Doors and doorways symbolize change in literature and arts
– A key to a door can represent insider status
– Doors can have aesthetic and symbolic purposes
– Doors can have ritualistic and metaphorical meanings
– Appearance of doors in literature often signifies change
– Doors in art may have allegorical significance
**Cultural Significance of Doors:**
– Doors in different cultures may have unique customs
– Some cultures use door knockers or doorbells
– In Brazil, clapping from the sidewalk announces presence
– Doors can be part of rituals or ceremonies
– Key to a door may hold cultural importance
**Aesthetic and Historical Variations:**
– Historical doors overlaid with gold, silver, or brass
– Doors in different cultures may have unique customs
– Doors in art may have allegorical significance
– Doors can have aesthetic and symbolic purposes
– Ancient doors made of timber like olive wood, elm, cedar
A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a doorway or portal. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide security by controlling access to the doorway (portal). Conventionally, it is a panel that fits into the doorway of a building, room, or vehicle. Doors are generally made of a material suited to the door's task. They are commonly attached by hinges, but can move by other means, such as slides or counterbalancing.
![A drawing of a door from the [[Lexikon der gesamten Technik]].](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:L-door.png)
The door may be able to move in various ways (at angles away from the doorway/portal, by sliding on a plane parallel to the frame, by folding in angles on a parallel plane, or by spinning along an axis at the center of the frame) to allow or prevent ingress or egress. In most cases, a door's interior matches its exterior side. But in other cases (e.g., a vehicle door) the two sides are radically different.
Many doors incorporate locking mechanisms to ensure that only some people can open them (such as with a key). Doors may have devices such as knockers or doorbells by which people outside announce their presence. (In some countries, such as Brazil, it is customary to clap from the sidewalk to announce one's presence.) Apart from providing access into and out of a space, doors may have the secondary functions of ensuring privacy by preventing unwanted attention from outsiders, of separating areas with different functions, of allowing light to pass into and out of a space, of controlling ventilation or air drafts so that interiors may be more effectively heated or cooled, of dampening noise, and of blocking the spread of fire.
Doors can have aesthetic, symbolic, ritualistic purposes. Receiving the key to a door can signify a change in status from outsider to insider. Doors and doorways frequently appear in literature and the arts with metaphorical or allegorical import as a portent of change.
Definition from ChatGPT:
Door:
A door is a movable barrier typically made of wood, metal, or glass that swings, slides, or rotates on hinges or tracks to open or close an entrance to a building, room, or other space. It is used to provide security, privacy, and control access to an area.