Dome

Facade of the Hotel de Ville; The age of Louis XIV in Provence was marked by an increase in prosperity, after the destructive wars of religion in the previous century. The citizens of Arles built a new Hotel de Ville, designed by the Arles architect Jacques Peytret, aided by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, which has a large central court with a perfectly smooth vaulted ceiling, without a central column, supported entirely by the carefully joined stones resting on fine Doric columns. The Hotel de Ville symbolized the rise of the power of the bourgeoise of the French cities. and showed that civil architecture could be as beautiful and powerful as religious architecture or royal palaces. Source: Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (accessed 7/11/2010)