The Portico can be understood as a basic element of civil construction throughout history, not exclusive to any one culture, whether Western or Eastern. It appears in Ancient Greek architecture, in pre-Columbian structures, in the Arch of Triumph, and even in the ruins of New York’s World Trade Center.

The Portuguese writer Ferreira de Castro often began his books with a Portico—a kind of preface or opening passage to his adventures. By its form, the Portico can also be read metaphorically as a structure balanced between two columns, Society and State, supporting a beam: Democracy.