The book is written based on the materials of the lecture series “Formula of Culture”, given by the author at the Moscow Open Club (2012–2013). The reader will find in it basic information on the history of architecture and become acquainted with non-trivial facts. Here architecture is considered in the context of other types of art - mainly painting and sculpture. Much attention is paid to the influence of architecture on a person, because any building takes on the task of organizing our living space, contributes to the formation of a sense of beauty and instills ideas about orderliness, system, public and personal values, the principle of grouping various elements, including social ones. What we see and perceive affects our character and helps determine what is good and what is bad. The layout and relative arrangement of buildings in a symbolic form repeats the structure of society. In the “anthill house” people are ants, but in a luxurious mansion a person feels like the ruler of the world. Being a visual event, the building becomes a formula of culture, a visible expression of its main meaning. The analysis of the main architectural concepts is carried out in the book based on the history of art of the Ancient World and Western Europe.