 Rose windows, characteristic of the west fronts and transept ends of the churches of France, were common in architecture of Germany in the Romanesque period, where they appear in various forms at Worms Cathedral, and in Italy where they are either untraceried oculi or wheel windows such as that at the Basilica of San Zeno, Verona.The first rose window above the west portal in France is said to be that at the Abbaye Saint-Denis 1140.Saint-Denis is generally cited as the first truly Gothic building, however the distinction is best reserved for the choir, of which the ambulatory remains intact.