Editing Arch (section)

=== 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 (architecture)|rebate]]).{{sfn | Woodman | Bloom | 2003 | loc=Western Europe and its influence }} 

[[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 [[span (engineering)|spans]] but with the same height.{{sfn | Woodman | Bloom | 2003 | loc=Western Europe and its influence }} 

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.{{sfn | Woodman | Bloom | 2003 | loc=Western Europe and its influence }}