prepared By : Shayan S,Zangana Architecture Department / University Of Sulaimanyah

1. University of Sulymaniyah
College of Engineering
Department Of Architecture
Third Stage
Prepared by :
Shayan Salar Ahmed
Hazhir 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

2. Content
1. 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 architecture
5.2 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 architecture
The effect of pendentived comparing ( pantheon & holly w
7. Romanesque Architecture.
7.1 Arches in Romanesque architecture
7.2 Roofing in Romanesque architecture.
7.3 Examples of Romanesque architecture
8. Gothic Architecture.
8.1 Arches in Gothic architecture
8.2 Roofing in Gothic architecture.
8.3 Examples of Gothic architecture
8.4 Difference between Romanesque and Gothic arches
9. Renaissance Architecture.
9.1 Arches and Roofing Renaissance architecture
9.2 Examples of Renaissance architecture
10 . Conclusion
11. References

3. 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.

4. 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

5. 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,

6. 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

7. 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

8. Types of Arches.
Some Arch types

9. 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.

10. Types of Vaults.
1 Barrel vault (semi-circular vault)
2 Groin vaults ( cross vaults)
3 Rib vault
4 Fan vault
5 Dome

11. 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

12. Types of Domes.
(sphere).1. Semi Circular Domes
2. Segmental Domes (semi-sphere)
(these two types are from Roman architecture-style)
3. Simple Dome
4. 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 )

13. 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

14. 3.1 Arches and roofing systems.
Greeks didn’t use Arches in there structure , the used (the trabeated style) which th
Greeks approved and developed, and which is recognised as the special Grecian typ
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 )

15. 4. Ancient Roman Architecture.
Roman Architecture covers the period from the establishment of the Roman Republic
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.

16. 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.

17. 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).

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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.

23. 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.

24. 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

25. 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.

26. 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.

27. 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

28. 6.3 Examples of Byzantine architecture
The 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

29. 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.

30. 7.1 Arches in Romanesque architecture
The 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.

31. 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

32. 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

33. 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.

34. 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

35. 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 Arch
Pointed 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

36. 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 structural
Used less than the pointed arch
Ogee 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.

37. 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 Arch
This type of arch was designed and developed in
Islam
It’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

38. 8.1 Arches in Gothic architecture
Blind 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

39. 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

40. 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

41. 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

42. 8.2 Roofing in Gothic architecture.
Types of Ribbed vaults:
Reticulated vault
Stellar vault
Stellar vault
(wooden) Cell vault
Umbrella vault Hanging key-s

43. 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

44. 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.

45. 8.3 Examples of Gothic architecture
St. Roman Church
This church is located in Spain, effected
by Islamic architecture
Cologne Cathedral

46. 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 vau
at King's College Chapel, England.

47. 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.

48. 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.

49. 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

50. 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"

51. 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.

52. 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.

53. 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

54. 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