In the ecclesiastic architecture of the 19th century, problems relating to liturgy receded into the background as greater emphasis began to be placed on the appearance of the building. It was not so much about the way in which the congregation came together, but about the aesthetic preferences for the Romanesque or Gothic. The battle of styles, as set forth by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin in Great Britain in the first half of the 19th century and by Petrus Josephus Hubertus Cuypers in the Netherlands in the second half of the 19th century, developed into a heated, almost embittered rivalry between those who favoured the round arch and those who favoured the lancet arch. The radical attitude of the proponents of the Gothic, Pu gin and Cuypers, is explained by the fact that both were Catholics living in a predominantly Protestant culture and felt that their "true" religion was under constant threat. However, one way or the other, rounded or pointed, both were an attempt to escape the times. The economic and technological innovations of the 19th century created new social friction, new classes and social groupings. The rapid development of society brought with it change and the need to adapt, something that not everyone was prepared to do. One need only think of the romantic dissidents, of the young German poet Novalis and his speech "Christendom or Europe" (1799). In place of the pressures of the here and now, they yearned for ages past, singing the praises of the Middle Ages in western Europe as the happiest "origins" of Christianity