From Italy we pass to northern Europe. The power of Rome fell 476 A.D., but before that date the greater part of Europe had been Romanized, and the Roman way of building with column and arch and dome had been learned in France and Germany and England. But the climate of those countries was different from that of Italy and a slight change in the Roman way of building was necessary. In the northern countries there were heavy rains and snows and a roof with a gentle slope was not suitable for carrying off large quantities of water and snow. A gable (Fig. 12) with a sharp slant was necessary. Hence throughout northern Europe the roofs were built much steeper than they were in Italy and Greece, although in other respects the northern houses resembled more or less closely those of the older southern countries. [Illustration: FIG. 11.--INTERIOR OF A ROMAN CLUB HOUSE.] [Illustration: FIG. 12.--A DWELLING IN NORTHERN EUROPE.] The pointed roof which was made necessary by the climate of the north prepared the way for a new style of building, the _pointed_ or _Gothic_ style. This style began to appear in the twelfth century and by the end of the thirteenth century--that remarkable century again--the buildings of all northern Europe were Gothic. The new style began with a change in the arch. The Roman arch was a semi-circle and was therefore described from one center. The Gothic arch was formed by describing it from two centers instead of one and was therefore a pointed arch. As the pointed arch grew in favor it became the fashion to shape other parts of the building into points wherever it was possible to do this. The rounding dome became a spire "pointing heavenward"; the windows and doors were pointed and so were the ornaments and decorations. For several centuries buildings fairly bristled with points (Fig. 13). The finest example of Gothic architecture is the glorious cathedral at Cologne. [Illustration: FIG. 13.--POINTED STYLE. Typical scheme of a fully developed French cathedral of the 13th century. (From Viollet-le-Duc's "Dict. de l'Architecture.")]