University of Sulymaniyah

College of Engineering

Department Of Architecture

Third Stage

Prepared by :Shayan Salar AhmedHazhir Jalil Mahmud Supervised by:

L. Banaz Nasradin

History Of Architecture A Report about :

General classification of arches and

Roofing systems ( Domes & Vaults)In western Architecture With examples

Content1. Introduction of terms

1.1 Arches .

1.2 Vaults.

1.3 Domes .

2.1 History And Types of Arches.

2.2 History And Types of Vaults.

2.3 History And Types of Domes.

3.Ancinest Greek Architecture.

3.1 Arches and roofing systems.

4. Ancient Roman Architecture.

4.1 Arches in Roman Architecture.

4.2 Roofing systems in Roman architecture.

4.3 Examples of Roman architecture.

4.4 The effect of using arches .

(comparing Greek & Roman architecture)

5. Early Christian Architecture

5.1 Arches and Roofing Early Christian architecture5.2 Examples of Early Christian architecture

6. Byzantine Architecture.

6.1 Arches in Byzantine architecture

6.2 Roofing in Byzantine architecture.

6.3 Examples of Byzantine architectureThe effect of pendentived comparing ( pantheon & holly wisdom )

7. Romanesque Architecture.

7.1 Arches in Romanesque architecture

7.2 Roofing in Romanesque architecture.7.3 Examples of Romanesque architecture8. Gothic Architecture.

8.1 Arches in Gothic architecture

8.2 Roofing in Gothic architecture.

8.3 Examples of Gothic architecture8.4 Difference between Romanesque and Gothic arches

9. Renaissance Architecture.

9.1 Arches and Roofing Renaissance architecture9.2 Examples of Renaissance architecture

10 . Conclusion11. References

1.1 Arches

Is a structure that spans a space and supports

a load.

-Provides a structure which

eliminates tensile stresses in spanning a great amount of open

space.

All the forces are resolved into compressive

stresses.

Building materials such as stone, cast

iron and concrete can strongly resist

compression but are very weak

when tension, shear or torsion stress is

applied to them.

Arches consists of different components.

1.2 Domes

A dome is an element of architecture that

resembles the hollow upper half of

a sphere.

Dome structures made of various

materials have a long architectural lineage

extending into prehistory.

A dome is a rounded vault made of curved

segments,

meaning an arch rotated around its central

vertical axis.

Domes can be made much thinner than

corresponding arches of the same span.

For example, a hemispherical dome can be

2.5 times thinner than a semicircular arch,

Sant peter

Pantheon, Rome

1.3 Vaults

A vault, in architecture, is an arch-

shaped structure, usually of masonry,

used as the ceiling of room or other

enclosed space,

as the roof of a building, or as the

support for a ceiling or roof.

Masonry vaults are usually composed

of wedge-shaped pieces called

voussoirs, which are held in

place, like the stones of an arch, by the

pressure of the neighboring pieces.

Because of the combined

pressure of its components, any arch

exerts an outward pressure at its base,

2.1 History And Types of Arches.

Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium

BC in Mesopotamian brick architecture and

their systematic use started with the Ancient

Romans who were the first to apply the

technique to a wide range of structures.

The semicircular arch was followed in Europe

by the pointed Gothic arch or ogive whose

centreline more closely followed the forces of

compression and which was therefore stronger.

The semicircular arch can be flattened to make

an elliptical arch as in the Ponte Santa

Trinita. Both the parabolic and the cat

nary arches are now known to be the

theoretically strongest forms..Parabolic arches

were introduced in construction by

the Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí, who

admired the structural system of Gothic style

Types of Arches.

The most used arch types in European middle age architecture was :

1.Semi circular Arch (Roman to Romanesque)

2. . Pointed Arch (Romanesque , gothic )

3. Trefoil Arch (gothic-style)

4. Cinquefoil Arch (gothic-style)

5. Ogee Arch (gothic-style)

6. Tudor Arch ( gothic-style)

7. horseshoe Arch (gothic-style)

8. four-foiled Arch (gothic-style)

9. Blind Arch ( Romanesque, gothic-style)

10. Cusped Arch (gothic-style)

Detail of Each arch is in its age in next papers

1. Semi circular arch

Gothic arches

Types of Arches.

Some Arch types

2.2 History And Types of Vaults.In ancient Egypt brick vaulting was used, chiefly for drains.

The Chaldeans and Assyrians used vaults

for the same purpose but seem also to have made architectural use of high domes

The vaulting technique of the Etruscans was absorbed by the Romans, who started in the

1st cent. A.D. the development of a mature vaulting system.

The semicircular arch was universally employed in

Romanesque vaulting throughout Europe, and the

Roman cross vault was the type used for covering square

or rectangular compartments.

the Gothic structure is a skeletal system that transfers roof loads down to the ground at

discreet points

Ribs to strengthen the groins and sides of a cross vault were first employed in the Church of

Sant'Ambrogio, Milan (11th cent.).When the system of using ribs to form a complete

organic

supporting skeleton was developed, it became one of the basic principles of perfected Gothic

architecture. The use of ribs led to increasing complexity, beginning in the 12th cent.,

in vault forms.

Types of Vaults.

1 Barrel vault (semi-circular vault)

2 Groin vaults ( cross vaults)

3 Rib vault

4 Fan vault

5 Dome

2.3 History And Types of Domes.

Roman domes are found in baths, villas, palaces, and tombs. Oculi are common

features. They are customarily hemispherical in shape and partially or totally

concealed on the exterior. In order to buttress the horizontal thrusts of a large

hemispherical masonry dome, the supporting walls were built up beyond the base to

at least the haunches of the dome and the dome was then also sometimes covered

with a conical or polygonal roof

The earliest discovered may be four small dwellings made of Mammoth tusks and bones. The

first was found by a farmer in Mezhirich, Ukraine, in 1965 while he was digging in his cellar

and archaeologists unearthed three more. They date from 19,280 - 11,700 BC.

The Dome developed through centuries and transferred to Europe through ancient Roman

Pantheon Rome

Venice S. lorez dome

Types of Domes.

(sphere).1. Semi Circular Domes

2. Segmental Domes (semi-sphere)(these two types are from Roman architecture-style)

3. Simple Dome4. Compound Dome

5.Dome with Circular drum(these two types are from byzantine architecture-style)

6. Dome vaults(this style where used it some gothic cathedras by using

a ribbed vault as a dome )

3.Ancinest Greek Architecture.

Historians divide Ancient Greek civilization into

two eras, the Hellenic period (from around 900 BC to

the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC),

and the Hellenistic period (323 BC to 30

AD).During the earlier (Hellenic) period, substantial

works of architecture began to appear (around 600

BC).

During the later (Hellenistic) period, Greek culture

spread widely, initially as a result of Alexander's

conquest of other lands,

and later as a result of the rise of the Roman Empire,

which adopted much of Greek culture

3.1 Arches and roofing systems.Greeks didn’t use Arches in there structure , the used (the trabeated style) which the

Greeks approved and developed, and which is recognised as the special Grecian type.

This style was essentially columnar and trabeated

(trabs = abeam),

and the character was largely influenced by the use

offinely-dressed marble.

Stability was achieved solely by the judicious

observance of

the laws of gravity ; the weights acting only

vertically, and

consequently needing but vertical resistances.

And the roofs where made of wood in a tri angular

shape and the transferred the loads to the beams

then to the coloumns which was 3 orders (Doric ,

lonic , Corinthian )

4. Ancient Roman Architecture.

Roman Architecture covers the period from the establishment of the Roman Republic in

509BC, to about the 4th century, after which it becomes reclassified as Late

Antique or Byzantine architecture.

The Romans adopted the columnar and

trabeated_style of theGreeks,

and joined to it the Arch,the Vaulte and the Dome,

which it is presumed they borrowed from the

Etruscans, and this

union of beam and arch is the keynote of the style

in its earliest developments.

4.1 Arches in Roman Architecture.

Arches with a circular form, also referred

to as rounded arch, were commonly

employed by the builders of ancient

history, heavy masonry arches.

Ancient Roman builders relied heavily

on the rounded arch to span large, open

areas.

Several rounded arches placed in-line,

end-to-end, form an arcade, such as the

Roman aqueduct.

4.2 Roofing systems in Roman architecture.

Roman vaults were the basis on which

more complex and varied forms were

developed in the Middle Ages. The

barrel vault spans between

two walls, like a continuous arch. The

cross, groined, vault is formed by

the intersection at right angles of two barrel

vaults, producing a surface that

has arched openings for its four sides and

concentration of load at the four corner points

of the square or rectangle. the main types are:

1. Barrel Vault (semi circular vault)

2. Groin Vault (cross vault)

3. The dome (semispherical and semi domes).

4.3 Examples of Roman architecture.The Colosseum at Rome is a good example

of this union in which the pires_ between the

arches on the

different stories are strengthened by the semi-

attached columns

which act the part of buttresses ; thus becoming

part of the wall,

and no longer carrying the entablature unaided.

The Pantheon, Rome

The 4,535 metric tons weight of the Roman

concrete dome is concentrated with 43.3 diameter

on a ring of voussoirs 9.1 metres (30 ft) in

diameter that form the oculus, while the

downward thrust of the dome is carried by

eight barrel vaults in the 6.4 metres (21 ft) thick

drum wall into eight piers. The thickness of the

dome varies from 6.4 metres (21 ft) at the base of

the dome to 1.2 metres (3.9 ft) around the oculus.

43.3m

4.4 The effect of using arches .(comparing Greek & Roman architecture)

The columns in Greek Parthenon are near to each other , because they used huge stones as beams

to transfer the loads from the roof to the columns . And maximum span was 2.5 m . As linear

stone beams cannot support high tensile

Romans could build a larger spans using semi-circular stone arches .

As arches can redirect

the horizontal and vertical loads

to the supports better than

linear stone beams

Roman aqueduct near Nimes, France

The Parthenon , Athena

5. Early Christian Architecture

The Early Christian period is generally taken

as lasting from Constantine to Gregory the

Great, or from

A.D. 300 to 604. The Teutonic invasions of

Italy commenced

about A.D. 376, and Teutonic settlements

took place within the

empire about this time, these movements being

caused by the

incursions of the Huns into Germany.

Saint petro church

5.1 Arches and Roofing Early Christian architecture

The earlier basilican churches had their

columns closely spaced,

and were crowned with the entablature

which supported the main wall,

on which rested the wooden roof but

as the arch came more into general use these

columns were

spaced further apart, being connected by

semicircular arches

The basilican church with three or five

aisles, covered by a

wooden roof, is the special type of the style

as opposed to the

vaulted types of

Cross vaults & Barrel vaults

Saint petro church

5.2 Examples of Early Christian architecture

The plans of the basilicas, or Roman halls of

justice were

copied by the early Christians for their places of

worship

Santa. Clemente, Rome,

Which although rebuilt in the

eleventh century, contains the original

internal arrangement of

the churches of the fifth century.

An atrium or forecourt, being an open

space surrounded by

arcades, formed an imposing approach in

most of the Basilican

churches.

6. Byzantine Architecture.

Byzantine architecture is that which was

developed at Byzantium on the removal of

the capital from Rome

to that city. It includes not only the

buildings in Byzantium but

also those which were erected under its

influence, as at Ravenna

and Venice, also in Greece, Russia, and

elsewhere. During the

reign of Justinian (A.D. 527-565) Italy was

recovered to the Eastern

Empire, accounting for the style of some of

the buildings.

6.1 Arches in Byzantine architecture

In Byzantine churches The high

ceiling of the nave was

held up by semi-circular arch and

columns

The semi circular arch

was the most used arch type in

byzantine architecture

6.2 Roofing in Byzantine architecture.

The general architectural character depends

on the development

of the dome, induced by the adoption of

circular and polygonal

plans for churches, tombs and baptisteries.

This is in contrast

with the Romanesque style, which

developed the vault in Western

and Northern Europe .

Byzantine architecture innovated the

pedentive domes Which provided the

Byzantine architects with a unique

way of adjusting the circular form of a

dome roof to a square or polygonal

plan.

Domes was mostly used in the Eastern part of

the Byzantine empire. While in west the roofs

(some times domes) where covered by wood.

Types of Domes:

Simple Dome: It is a type of byzantine

dome in which the curve (arch) of the pedentive

and the Dome are the same .

Compound Dome :

In this type the pedentives and the

Dome have deferent curvature

Dome with Circular drum (support) :

In this type of domes ,

a ring of concrete lies between

the dome and the pendentives ..

6.2 Roofing in Byzantine architecture.

6.3 Examples of Byzantine architecture

The church of Holly wisdom was constructed on a scale unprecedented in human history.

Under the rule of Justinian the Emperor, and with a force of 10,000 workers, divided by

two teams of 5000 men leaded by 50 master.

The main ground plan of the building is a rectangle, 70 meter (230 ft) in

width and 75 meter (246 ft) In length. The are covered by a central dome

with a diameter of 31 meter and height of 56 meter.

vaults

Dome

Dome half

6.3 Examples of Byzantine architectureThe effect of using pendentived ( comparing Roman & Byzantine Architecture)

The central dome is the dominant theme of the building. Unlike earlier domed

buildings which were circular in plan, such as the Pantheon in Rome, the dome of

the holly wisdom rests above a rectilinear ground plan. This design requires an

architectural element to accomplish the transition from square to circle. To solve

this problem, pendentives, or spherical triangles, are used to bridge the space

between the four supporting corner piers and the circular base of the dome. It is

estimated that 105 tons of pressure per square meter are exerted on the major piers.

pendentives

7. Romanesque Architecture.Romanesque architecture derives its name from

the similarity to ancient roman buildings. Most

notable its reliance on rounded arch and stress

in individual parts to create unity.

Romanesque style arises during the early middle

ages (5th – 9th centuries). During those time

Europe becomes Christianized and the church

exerts more spiritual, economic and political

influence. Signified building, with exception of

monasteries and churches before 11th c. is rare

because of constant warfare and poor economic

conditions. Later the expansion of towns,

commerce, industry and population creates a

building boom. Christian influence continued

to spread through Europe.

7.1 Arches in Romanesque architectureThe arches used in Romanesque architecture are

nearly always semicircular, for openings such as

doors and windows, for vaults and for arcades.

Wide doorways are usually surmounted by a semi-

circular arch, except where a door with a lintel is

set into a large arched recess and surmounted by a

semi-circular "lunette" with decorative

carving. These doors sometimes have a carved

central jamb.

Narrow doors and small windows might be

surmounted by a solid stone lintel. Larger windows

are nearly always arched and may be paired with

two arches separated by a column, or occur as

paired windows framed by a single larger arch.

Ocular windows are common in Italy, particularly

in the facade gable and are also seen in Germany.

Later Romanesque churches may have wheel

windows or rose windows with plate tracery.

7.2 Roofing in Romanesque architecture.

Groin Vault

is created by two barrel vaults intersecting at

right angles. The arches of groin vaults are

round or pointed. It is also known as a cross

vault.

Rib Vault

A vault reinforced by masonry ribs is known as

a rib vault. When this type of vault has two

masonry ribs dividing it into four sections, it is

called a quadripartite rib vault. A vault divided

by three masonry ribs that make six sections is

called a sexpartite rib vault.

barrel vault of Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe

7.3 Examples of Romanesque architecture

Ribbed groin vaults replace barrel vaults and allow

the addition of clerestory windows.

Rib vaults are groin vaults reinforced with extra stone ribbing.

These vaults at St. Etienne are some of the earliest ribbed vaults.

They are supported by large

complex piers covered with pilasters and engaged columns.

St. Etienne

The effect of Romanesque architecture on gothic arches

Romanesque architecture had already

established the basic architectural forms and

units that were to remain in slow evolution

throughout the medieval period. The basic

structure of the cathedral church, the parish

church, the monastery, the castle, the palace,

the great hall and the gatehouse were all

established. Ribbed vaults, pointed arches ,

buttresses, clustered columns,

ambulatories, wheel windows, spires and

richly carved door tympanums were already

features of ecclesiastical architecture.

The nave of the abbey church of Saint-Georges de Boscherville

Saint-Étienne, Caen,

both the nave and

the tower are covered by

ribbed vaults.

8. Gothic Architecture.

Gothic Architecture is a style of

architecture which flourished during the

high and late medieval period. It evolved

from Romanesque architecture and was

succeeded by Renaissance architecture.

Originating in 12th-century France

and lasting into the 16th century, Gothic

architecture was known during the period

as "the French Style" (Opus Francigenum),

with the term Gothic first appearing

during the latter part of the Renaissance

as a stylistic insult. Its characteristic

features include the pointed arch, the

ribbed vault and the flying buttress.

Milano cathedral

8.1 Arches in Gothic architecture

Semi circular Arch :Arches with a circular form, also referred to as rounded arch, were

commonly employed by the builders of ancient history, heavy

masonry arches. In gothic style the arch wasn’t used in wide range .

Pointed ArchPointed arches were most often used by builders of Gothic-style

architecture.

The advantage to using a pointed arch, rather than a circular arch,

is that the arch action in a pointed arch produces less thrust at the

base.

This innovation allowed for taller and more closely spaced

openings, typical of Gothic architecture . It has 4 main types:

1. Equilateral arch

2. Lancet Arch

3. Flamboyant arch

4. Depressed Arch

8.1 Arches in Gothic architecture

Trefoil Arch

is an arch incorporating the shape or outline of a trefoil — three overlapping rings. It has been widely used for its symbolic significance in gothic architecture

A pointed arch having cusps in the intrados on either side of the apex.Its decorative and not structuralUsed less than the pointed archOgee Arch

shaped somewhat like an S, consisting of two arcs that

curve in opposite senses, so that the ends are parallel.

It is a kind of sigmoid curve.

In architecture, the principal use of the term is to

describe an arch composed of two ogees, mirrored left-

to-right and meeting at an apex. Ogee arches were a

feature of English Gothic architecture in the later

thirteenth century.

Tudor Arch

Tudor arch, is a low, wide type of arch with a

pointed apex. It is much wider than its height

and gives the visual effect of having been

flattened under pressure. Its structure is

achieved by drafting two arcs which rise

steeply from each springing point on a small

radius and then turn into two arches with a

wide radius and much lower springing point.

horseshoe ArchThis type of arch was designed and developed in IslamIt’s suggested that the horseshoe arch was derived from the symbolic use of the horseshoe in earlier ages.This arch allowed more height than the classical semi-circular arch .

8.1 Arches in Gothic architecture

8.1 Arches in Gothic architectureBlind Arch

arches that has no actual openings and that is applied

to the surface of a wall as a decorative element: i.e.

the arches are not windows or openings but are part

of the masonry face. It is designed as an ornamental

architectural element, and has no load-bearing

function. Whereas a blind arch is usually a single

arch or a series of joined arches

Blind arcades are a common decorative features on

the facades of Romanesque and Gothic buildings

throughout Western Europe

Cusped Arch

A cusped arch having five foliations worked on

the intrados.

Architecture A design having five sides composed of

converging arcs, usually used as a frame for glass or

a panel in gothic-style

8.1 Arches in Gothic architecture

Cinquefoil Arch

A cusped arch having five foliations

worked on the intrados.

Its found later than the trefoil arch.

Used mainly in Islamic architecture, but

also seen in gothic style.

four-foiled Arch

Typical in gothic and moorish

architecture

It is based on 4 circles with in a circle

8.1 Arches in Gothic architecture

Rose windows

is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window,

but is especially used for those found in churches of

the Gothic architectural style and being divided into

segments by stone mullions and tracery. The name “rose

window” was not used before the 17th century and

according to the Oxford English Dictionary, among other

authorities, comes from the English flower name rose.

Circular windows and decorative circular recesses are a

feature of many Romanesque churches and cathedrals,

particularly in Germany and Italy where the style existed

for a prolonged period, overlapping the development of

Gothic in France and its arrival with French architects in

England.Strassburg Rose window exterior

8.2 Roofing in Gothic architecture.

Ribbed Vault

The intersection of two or three barrel

vaults produces a rib-vault or ribbed

vault when they are edged with piped

masonry often carved in decorative

patterns. mechanics of the weight of a

groin vault and its transmission

outwards to the supporting pillars

remains, the new use of rib vaults

demonstrates the skill of the masons and

the grandeur of the new ideas circulating

at the introduction of Gothic architecture

in the end of the eleventh century

8.2 Roofing in Gothic architecture.Types of Ribbed vaults:

Reticulated vaultStellar vault

Stellar vault (wooden) Cell vault

Umbrella vault Hanging key-stone

8.2 Roofing in Gothic architecture.

Fan vault

A fan vault is a form of vault used in the

Perpendicular Gothic style, in which the ribs are

all of the same curve and spaced equidistantly, in

a manner resembling a fan. The initiation and

propagation of this design element is strongly

associated with England.

The earliest example, dating from about the year

1351,[1] may be seen in the south walk of the

cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral,[2] built by

Thomas of Cambridge. In the fourteenth century

the structure was known as the Abbey Church at

Gloucester. A fine later example, from 1640, is

the vault over the staircase at Christ Church,

Oxford. The largest fan vault in the world,

however, can be found in the chapel of King's

College, Cambridge

8.1 Arches in Gothic architecture

Flying buttresses:

A further development of arches were

the flying buttress which arched

externally from the springing of the

vault across the roof of the aisle to a

large buttress pier projecting well beyond

the line of the external wall. These piers

were often surmounted by a pinnacle or

statue, further adding to the downward

weight, and counteracting the outward

thrust of the vault and buttress arch as

well as stress from wind loading.

8.3 Examples of Gothic architecture

St. Roman Church

This church is located in Spain, effected

by Islamic architecture

Cologne Cathedral

8.3 Examples of Gothic architecture

St. Mary Westwell Church- Canterbury

The chancel, by far the most elaborate part of the

building, is separated from the nave by a screen

of three trefoil headed arches supported on very

tall cylindrical pillars.

The depressed arch supported by fan vaulting at King's College Chapel, England.

9. Renaissance Architecture.

*Renaissance architecture is the architecture

between the early 15th and 17th centuries in

different regions of Europe.

*In which there was a conscious revival and

development of certain elements of ancient Greek

and Roman thought and material culture.

*Renaissance architecture followed Gothic

architecture and was succeeded by Baroque

architecture.

*Renaissance style places emphasis on symmetry,

proportion, geometry and the regularity of parts.

*Orderly arrangements of columns, pilasters and

lintels.

*Use of semicircular arches, hemisphererical

domes, niches and aedicule which replaced the

more complex proportional systems and irregular

profiles of medieval buildings.

9.1 Arches and Roofing Renaissance architecture

Arches are semi-circular. Arches are often used in

arcades, supported on piers or columns with

capitals. There may be a section of

entablature between the capital and the

springing of the arch. Alberti was one of the

first to use the arch on a monumental scale at

the St. Andrea in Mantua.

Windows may be paired and set within a semi-circular arch. They may have square lintels and triangular or segmental pediments, which are often used alternately. Emblematic in this respect is the Palazzo Farnese in Rome, begun in 1517.

9.1 Arches and Roofing Renaissance architecture

Vaults

Vaults do not have ribs. They are semi-circular or

segmental and on a square plan, unlike the

Gothic vault which is frequently rectangular.

The barrel vault is returned to architectural

vocabulary as at the St. Andrea in Mantua.

Domes

The Dome of St Peter's Basilica, Rome.

The dome is used frequently,

both as a very large structural feature that is visible from the exterior ,

and also as a means of roofing smaller spaces where they are only visible internally .

After the success of the dome in Brunelleschi’s design for theBasilica di Santa Maria del Fiore

and its use in Bramante’s plan for St. Peter's Basilica ( 1506emoR ni ),

the dome became an indispensable element in church architecture and l

ater even for secular architecture, such as Palladio's Villa Rotonda

9.2 Examples of Renaissance architecture

St. Peter‘is a Late Renaissance church located

within Vatican City.

Designed principally by Donato

Bramante, Michelangelo, Carlo

Maderno and Gian Lorenzo Bernini, St. Peter's

is the most renowned work ofRenaissance

architecture and remains one of the largest

churches in the world. While it is neither

the mother church of the Catholic Church nor the

Catholic Roman Rite cathedral of the Diocese of

Rome, St. Peter's is regarded as one of the holiest

Catholic sites. It has been described as "holding a

unique position in the Christian world" and as

"the greatest of all churches of Christendom"

9.2 Examples of Renaissance architecture

The dome of St. Peter's rises to a total height of

136.57 metres (448.1 ft) from the floor of the

basilica to the top of the external cross. It is the

tallest dome in the world.[ Its internal diameter

is 41.47 metres (136.1 ft), slightly smaller than

two of the three other huge domes that preceded

it, those of the Pantheon of Ancient Rome, 43.3

metres (142 ft), and Florence Cathedral of

the Early Renaissance, 44 metres (144 ft). It has

a greater diameter by approximately 30 feet

(9.1 m) than Constantinople's Hagia

Sophiachurch, completed in 537. It was to the

domes of the Pantheon and Florence duomo that

the architects of St. Peter's looked for solutions

as to how to go about building what was

conceived, from the outset, as the greatest dome

of Christendom.

8.4 Difference between Romanesque and Gothic arches

The primary characteristics of Romanesque

architecture were Roman in origin: large

internal spaces, covered by barrel vaults,

rounded arches on doors and windows, and

thick walls. In Gothic architecture, none of the

style elements such as the pointed arch, ribbed

groin vault, and the pilgrimage choir plan are

really new. They can be found separately in

various Romanesque structures, but never in the

same building. Gothic style has three main

characteristics that make it its own unique

style: highness, vertical lines and flying

buttresses.

10 . Conclusion

*All the cultures and styles were effecting each other since the Islamic architecture, so there is no

Basic difference in using the arches everywhere.. The semi circular arch where used from Roman

architecture till the gothic came with the pointed arch and other types of gothic arch.

*Round arches were used in the early Christians after the remains of roman architecture also in

byzantine architecture.

*Arches in early Christianity and Byzantines were simple and plain with no textures.

*In Romanesque architecture different textures and ornaments are used to give a different style.

*Arches in gothic architecture are pointed and slim because of the long and vertical elements in

gothic style.

*Each country uses different structure to form the arches and that depends on the geological

factors of that place.

*The Barrel and cross vault where used in Roman architecture then byzantine ,

Romanesque and Renaissance

and the ribbed and fan vaulted used by the gothic – style architecture

The Dome started with the Roman sphere and semi sphere domes , then the simple , compound

and dome on ring (drum) which was used in byzantine –style , gothic's preferred using vaults on

using domes , while domes was widely used in Renaissance style

And become a part of churches

11. References

Sir Banister Fletcher --History of Architecture –

Rolf Toman -- The Art of Gothic—

John Mansbridge _ Graphic History of Architecture. First edition.

Marco Bussagli _ Rome Art & Architecture .

Franck dk. ching_ Graphic History of Architecture

Internet:

- www.wikipedia.com

image.google.com