Arc brisé

A pointed arch, ogival arch, or Gothic arch is an arch with a pointed crown, whose two curving sides meet at a relatively sharp angle at the top of the arch. This architectural element was particularly important in Gothic architecture. The earliest use of a pointed arch dates back to bronze-age Nippur. As a structural feature, it was first used in eastern Christian architecture, Byzantine architecture and Sasanian architecture, but in the 12th century it began to be used in France and England as an important structural element, in combination with other elements, such as the rib vault and later the flying buttress. These allowed the construction of cathedrals, palaces and other buildings with dramatically greater height and larger windows which filled them with light. Crude arches pointed in shape have been discovered from the Bronze Age site of Nippur dated earlier than 2700 BC. The palace of Nineveh also has pointed arched drains but they have no true keystone. There are many other late Roman and Sassanian examples, mostly evidenced in early church building in Syria and Mesopotamia, but also in engineering works such as the Byzantine Karamagara Bridge, with a pointed arch of 17 m span, making "the pre-Muslim origins of pointed architecture an unassailable contention". File:قصر العاشق 03.JPG|Restored [[Abbasid architecture]] arches of the city gates of [[Samarra]] (9th century) File:Ibn-Tulun-Moschee 2015-11-14i.jpg|Central prayer niche in the [[Mosque of Ibn Tulun]] in Cairo (876–879 CE) File:Ar^Raqqa SYRIE 324.jpg|The 11th/12th century Baghdad Gate, [[Raqqa]] File:Zubaida tomb.JPG|[[Zumurrud Khatun Mosque and Mausoleum]], [[Baghdad]], [[Iraq]] (12th century) File:SamarkandBibiKhanym.jpg|Bibi-Khanym Mosque, [[Samarkand]], [[Uzbekistan]] (1399–1404) File:AspendosBrücke1.jpg|The [[Eurymedon Bridge]] in Turkey, originally built by the Romans and rebuilt with a pointed arch in the 13th century by the [[Sultanate of Rum|Seljuk Turkish Sultan]] File:Lotfollah mosque, isfahan.