Page "Gothic architecture" Paragraph 27

While so-called ' pitched ' brick vaulting, which could be constructed without centering, may date back in the Ancient Near East to the 2nd millennium BC, the earliest evidence of the pointed masonry arch appears in late Roman and Sassanian architecture, mostly evidenced in early church building in Syria and Mesopotamia, but occasionally also in secular structures like the Karamagara Bridge.

After the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, it became gradually a standard feature of Islamic architecture.