The arch became popular in the
Roman times and mostly spread alongside the European influence, although it was known and occasionally used much earlier. Many ancient architectures avoided the use of arches, including the
Viking and
Hindu ones.
Bronze Age: ancient Near East True arches, as opposed to
corbel arches, were known by a number of civilizations in the
ancient Near East including the
Levant, but their use was infrequent and mostly confined to underground structures, such as drains where the problem of lateral thrust is greatly diminished. An example of the latter would be the
Nippur arch, built before 3800 BC, and dated by
H. V. Hilprecht (1859–1925) to even before 4000 BC. Rare exceptions are an arched mudbrick home doorway dated to from
Tell Taya in
Iraq and two
Bronze Age arched
Canaanite city gates, one at
Ashkelon (dated to ), and one at
Tel Dan (dated to ), both in modern-day
Israel. An Elamite tomb dated 1500 BC from
Haft Teppe contains a parabolic vault which is considered one of the earliest evidences of arches in Iran. The use of true arches in Egypt also originated in the
4th millennium BC (underground barrel vaults at the
Dendera cemetery). Standing arches were known since at least the
Third Dynasty, but very few examples survived, since the arches were mostly used in non-durable secular buildings and made of
mud brick voussoirs that were not wedge-shaped, but simply held in place by
mortar, and thus susceptible to a collapse (the oldest arch still standing is at
Ramesseum). Sacred buildings exhibited either lintel design or corbelled arches. Arches were mostly missing in Egypt temples even after the
Roman conquest, even though Egyptians thought of the arch as a spiritual shape and used it in the rock-cut tombs and portable shrines.
Auguste Mariette suggested that this choice was based on a relative fragility of a vault: "what would remain of the tombs and temples of Egyptians today, if they had preferred the vault?" stone-arch bridge in the world,
Arkadiko Bridge, in Greece. As evidenced by their imitations of the parabolic arches,
Hittites most likely were exposed to the Egyptian designs, but used the corbelled technique to build them. File:Saqqara - Pyramid of Djoser complex - Heb-sed Court - chapel.JPG|Vaulted building using a decorative segmented arch at the
Heb-sed court in
Saqqara (restored, 2650
BC) File:Ramesseum Magazine 03.jpg|A true arch (catenary) at the Ramesseum
granaries ( 1300 BC) File:Kazarma Tholos Tomb 1.JPG|Ruins of the
Kazarma tholos tomb (1500 BC) showing the Mycenaean beehive technique File:Arkadiko Mycenaean Bridge II.JPG|Arkadiko Bridge ( 1300-1190 BC): corbel arch,
cyclopean masonry File:Chatušaš, Královská brána - panoramio.jpg| (1400-1200 BC), an imitation of the parabolic arch by
Hittites Classical Persia and Greece The
Assyrians, also apparently under the Egyptian influence, adopted the true arch (with a slightly pointed profile) early in the 8th century. In
ancient Persia, the
Achaemenid Empire (550 BC–330 BC) built small
barrel vaults (essentially a series of arches built together to form a hall) known as
iwan, which became massive, monumental structures during the later
Parthian Empire (247 BC–AD 224). This architectural tradition was continued by the
Sasanian Empire (224–651), which built the
Taq Kasra at
Ctesiphon in the 6th century AD, the largest free-standing vault until modern times. An early European example of a
voussoir arch appears in the 4th century BC
Greek Rhodes Footbridge. Proto-true arches can also be found under the stairs of the
temple of Apollo at Didyma and the
stadium at Olympia. . File:Gabriel Tranchard-Foto 1853 Khorsabad.jpg|Arch at the excavation in
Dur-Sharrukin (
Assyrian architecture, end of 8th century BC, photo taken in 1853) File:Didyma, Temple of Apollo, Passageway under Temple, Turkey - panoramio.jpg|Vault underneath the temple of Apollo in
Didyma,
Turkey (4th century BC) File:02Στάδιο Αρχαίας Ολυμπίας01.jpg|Arch at the stadium of Olympia (4th century BC)
Ancient Rome The ancient
Romans learned the
semicircular arch from the
Etruscans (both cultures apparently adopted the design in the 4th century BC), refined it and were the first builders in Europe to tap its full potential for above ground buildings: The Romans were the first builders in Europe, perhaps the first in the world, to fully appreciate the advantages of the arch, the vault and the dome. Throughout the
Roman Empire, from
Syria to
Scotland, engineers erected arch structures. The first use of arches was for civic structures, like drains and city gates. Later the arches were utilized for major civic buildings
bridges and
aqueducts, with the outstanding 1st century
AD examples provided by the
Colosseum,
Pont Du Gard, and the
aqueduct of Segovia. The introduction of the ceremonial
triumphal arch dates back to
Roman Republic, although the best examples are from the imperial times (
Arch of Augustus at Susa,
Arch of Titus). Romans initially avoided using the arch in the religious buildings and, in Rome, arched temples were quite rare until the recognition of Christianity in 313 AD (with the exceptions provided by the
Pantheon and the
"temple of Minerva Medica"). Away from the capital, arched temples were more common (,
temple of Jupiter at Sbeitla, Severan temple at
Djemila). Arrival of Christianity prompted creation of the new type of temple, a
Christian basilica, that made a thorough break with the pagan tradition with arches as one of the main elements of the design, along with the exposed brick walls (
Santa Sabina in Rome,
Sant'Apollinare in Classe). For a long period, from the late 5th century to the 20th century,
arcades were a standard staple for the Western
Christian architecture. Vaults began to be used for roofing large interior spaces such as halls and temples, a function that was also assumed by
domed structures from the 1st century BC onwards. The segmental arch was first built by the Romans who realized that an arch in a bridge did not have to be a semicircle, such as in
Alconétar Bridge or
Ponte San Lorenzo. The utilitarian and mass residential (
insulae) buildings, as found in
Ostia Antica and
Pompeii, mostly used low
segmental arches made of bricks and
architraves made of wood, while the concrete
lintel arches can be found in
villas and palaces. File:Falerii novi.JPG|The Jupiter gate at
Falerii Novi ( 300 BC) File:Acueduct of Segovia.jpg|Arches of the aqueduct at Segovia File:Laika ac Colosseum (9487556579).jpg|Arches of the Colosseum File:Arco di Augusto-Susa.jpg|Arch of Augustus,
Susa, Piedmont ( 8 BC) File:Tempio di Minerva Medica 21-09-2019.jpg|Arches at the "temple of Minerva Medica" in Rome File:The Temple of Hadrian (16127691050).jpg|Temple of Hadrian at Ephesus combines a semicircular arch with the lintels (117 AD) File:Trois temples 13 - cropped (Temple of Jupiter).png|Temple of Jupiter at
Sbeitla ( 150 AD) File:S Sabina - portico 1000013.JPG|Arches in the
narthex of Santa Sabina, Rome ( 425 AD) File:QDFV Basilica di Sant Apollinare in Classe - Ravenna.jpg|Arches and dome in Sant'Apollinare in Classe (534-536 AD) File:OstianInsula.JPG|Segmental arches in an Ostian insula
Ancient China Ancient architecture of China (and Japan) used mostly
timber-framed construction and
trabeated system. Arches were little-used, although there are few
arch bridges known from literature and one artistic depiction in stone-carved
relief. Since the only surviving artefacts of architecture from the
Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) are
rammed earth defensive walls and towers,
ceramic roof tiles from no longer existent wooden buildings,
stone gate towers, and underground brick tombs, the known vaults, domes, and archways were built with the support of the earth and were not free-standing. China's oldest surviving stone
arch bridge is the
Anji Bridge. Still in use, it was built between 595 CE and 605 CE during the
Sui dynasty. File:Anji Bridge, Zhao County, 2020-09-06 05.jpg|Anji Bridge: segmental arch, open-
spandrel design
Islamic Islamic architects adopted the Roman arches, but had quickly shown their resourcefulness: by the 8th century the simple semicircular arch was almost entirely replaced with fancier shapes, few fine examples of the former in the
Umayyad architecture notwithstanding (cf. the
Great Mosque of Damascus, 706–715 CE). The first
pointed arches appear already at the end of the 7th century AD (
Al-Aqsa Mosque,
Palace of Ukhaidhir,
cisterns at the
White Mosque of Ramle). Their variations spread fast and wide:
Mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo (876-879 AD), Nizamiyya Madrasa at
Khar Gerd (now
Iran, 11th century), Kongo Mosque in
Diani Beach (
Kenya, 16th century). Islamic architecture brought to life a large amount of arch forms: the round
horseshoe arch that became a characteristic trait of the Islamic buildings, the
keel arch, the
cusped arch, and the
mixed-line arch (where the curved "ogee swell" is interspersed with abrupt bends). The
Great Mosque of Cordoba, that can be considered a catalogue of Islamic arches, contains also the arches with almost straight sides,
trefoil,
interlaced, and
joggled. Mosque of Ibn Tulun adds
four-centred and
stilted version of the pointed arch. It is quite likely that the appearance of the pointed arch, an essential element of the
Gothic style, in Europe (
Monte Cassino, 1066–1071 AD, and the
Cluny Abbey five years later) and the
ogee arch in Venice ( 1250) is a result of the Islamic influence, possibly through
Sicily.
John Ruskin, however, traces the development of the Gothic
ogee arch as an indigenous evolution of the different shapes ("orders") of the
Florentine arch. Saoud also credits to Islamic architects the spread of the
transverse arch. Mixed-line arch became popular in the
Mudéjar style and subsequently spread around the Spanish-speaking world. File:CSC 0117 (5299538961).jpg|Semicircular arches at the Umayyad mosque File:Cisterns of the White Mosque, Ramla IMG 5271.JPG|Pointed arches in the cisterns of the White Mosque in
Ramla File:Cordoue - Mosquée - arcature 2.JPG|Trefoil arches at the Cordoba Mosque File:CordobaMezquita01.jpg|Interlaced arches at the Cordoba Mosque File:Cordoue - Mosquée - arcature.JPG|Horseshoe arches at the Cordoba Mosque File:Córdoba 2014.06.jpg|Ogee arch at the Cordoba Mosque File:Detalle de la Puerta del Perdón - Mezquita de Córdoba.jpg|Cusped arhes at the Cordoba Mosque File:Mixed line arches.png|Mixed line arches at
Palacio de Torre Tagle, Lima, Peru (1735)
Western Europe The collapse of the
Western Roman Empire left the church as the only client of major construction; with all
pre-Romanesque architectural styles borrowing from Roman construction with its semicircular arch. Due to the decline in the construction quality, the walls were thicker, and the arches thus heavier, than their Roman prototypes. Eventually the architects started to use the depth of the arches for decoration, turning the deep opening into
recessed orders (or
rebated arch, a sequence of progressively smaller concentric arches, each inset with a
rebate).
Romanesque style started experiments with the
pointed arch late in the 11th century (
Cluny Abbey). In few decades, the practice spread (
Durham Cathedral,
Basilica of Saint-Denis).
Early Gothic utilized the flexibility of the pointed arch by grouping together arches of different
spans but with the same height. While the arches used in the mediaeval Europe were borrowed from the Roman and Islamic architecture, the use of pointed arch to form the
rib vault was novel and became the defining characteristic of Gothic construction. At about 1400 AD, the city-states of Italy, where the pointed arch had never gotten much traction, initiated the revival of the Roman style with its round arches,
Renaissance. By the 16th century the new style spread across Europe and, through the influence of empires, to the rest of the world. Arch became a dominant architectural form until the introduction of the new construction materials, like steel and concrete.
India The history of arch in India is very long (some arches were apparently found in excavations of
Kosambi,
2nd millennium BC. However, the continuous history begins with rock-cut arches in the
Lomas Rishi cave (3rd century BC). Vaulted roof of an early
Harappan burial chamber has been noted at
Rakhigarhi.
S.R Rao reports vaulted roof of a small chamber in a house from
Lothal. Barrel vaults were also used in the Late Harappan
Cemetery H culture dated 1900 BC-1300 BC which formed the roof of the metal working furnace, the discovery was made by
Vats in 1940 during excavation at Harappa. The use of arches until the
Islamic conquest of India in the 12th century
AD was sporadic, with
ogee arches and barrel vaults in rock-cut temples (
Karla Caves, from the 1st century BC) and decorative pointed
gavaksha arches. By the 5th century AD voussoir vaults were used structurally in the brick construction. Surviving examples include the temple at
Bhitargaon (5th century AD) and
Mahabodhi Temple (7th century AD), the latter has both
pointed arches and
semicircular arches. These
Gupta era arch vault system was later used extensively in Burmese Buddhist temples in
Pyu and
Bagan in 11th and 12th centuries. With the arrival of Islamic and other
Western Asia influence, the arches became prominent in the Indian architecture, although the
post and lintel construction was still preferred. A variety of pointed and lobed arches was characteristic for the
Indo-Islamic architecture, with the monumental example of
Buland Darwaza, that has pointed arch decorated with small
cusped arches. File:Barabar Caves inside Lomas Rishi cave.jpg|The insides of the Lomas Rishi cave File:029 Chaitya and Roof (33563756881).jpg|Arches at Karle (
Great Chaitya, 1st century AD) File:Ajanta Caves, Aurangabad s-7.jpg|Decorative ogee arches (gavaksha) in
Ajanta Caves File:Inner sanctum of Mahabodhi temple at Bodhgaya in Bihar. 07.jpg|Pointed vault at the Mahabodhi temple File:Fatehput Sikiri Buland Darwaza gate 2010-color change.jpg|Arches at Buland Darwaza (16th century AD)
Pre-Columbian America Mayan architecture utilized the corbel arches. The other
Mesoamerican cultures used only the flat roofs with no arches whatsoever, although some researchers had suggested that both Maya and
Aztec architects understood the concept of a true arch.
Revival of the trabeated system The 19th-century introduction of the
wrought iron (and later
steel) into construction changed the role of the arch. Due to the high
tensile strength of new materials, relatively long lintels became possible, as was demonstrated by the
tubular Britannia Bridge (
Robert Stephenson, 1846-1850). A fervent proponent of the
trabeated system,
Alexander "Greek" Thomson, whose preference for
lintels was originally based on aesthetic criteria, observed that the
spans of this bridge are longer than that of any arch ever built, thus "the simple, unsophisticated stone lintel contains in its structure all the scientific appliances [...] used in the great tubular bridge. [...]
Stonehenge is more scientifically constructed than
York Minster." Use of arches in bridge construction continued (the Britannia Bridge was rebuilt in 1972 as a
truss arch bridge), yet the
steel frames and
reinforced concrete frames mostly replaced the arches as the load-bearing elements in buildings. File:Britanniabruecke Postkarte coloriert2.jpg|Original Britannia bridge (a colored postcard) File:Pont Britannia - geograph.org.uk - 692277.jpg|Britannia bridge (2008) ==Construction==