<P> These enabled the building of the many aqueducts throughout the empire, such as the Aqueduct of Segovia, the Pont du Gard, and the eleven aqueducts of Rome . The same concepts produced numerous bridges, some of which are still in daily use, for example the Puente Romano at Mérida in Spain, and the Pont Julien and the bridge at Vaison - la - Romaine, both in Provence, France . </P> <P> The dome permitted construction of vaulted ceilings without crossbeams and made possible large covered public space such as public baths and basilicas, such as Hadrian's Pantheon, the Baths of Diocletian and the Baths of Caracalla, all in Rome . </P> <P> The Romans first adopted the arch from the Etruscans, and implemented it in their own building . The use of arches that spring directly from the tops of columns was a Roman development, seen from the 1st century AD, that was very widely adopted in medieval Western, Byzantine and Islamic architecture . </P> <P> The Romans were the first builders in the history of architecture to realize the potential of domes for the creation of large and well - defined interior spaces . Domes were introduced in a number of Roman building types such as temples, thermae, palaces, mausolea and later also churches . Half - domes also became a favoured architectural element and were adopted as apses in Christian sacred architecture . </P>

The romans used concrete extensively in their building projects