Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/734

MOHAMMEDAN ART. 656 MOHAMMEDAN AKT. age was that built by Ibn Tulun when he declared Egypt's indepeiideiiee (STtl tu 87'.>). As Ibii Tu- luii objected to destroying so many Christian churches to get the 300 columns required for the new mosque, a Christian Coptic architect of- fered to build it without using a single column. It is the first mosque with piers in place of col- umns. This mosque is of the cloistered type, with two aisles on three sides and live aisles on the .Tami side; formed of IGO rectangular piers supporting broad stilted pointed arches, such as the Copts had always employed. The entire con- struction was of burnt bricks stuccoed on both sides, the stucco being decorated with stitT ara- besques in relief of the Unop and llower pattern derived from ancient Oriental or tJreek models. A Hat wooden roof rested on the walls not far above the crown of the arches. The wall inclos- ing the mosque forms a court about 31)0 feet s<piare. All the brilliant revetment and coloring have disappeared. Still this remains the finest example of the early type of mosque. It also has a couple of the earliest minarets, built, as were all the early ones, of brick. There is a small dome in front of the Milirab, as in the earlier Syrian and Palestinian mosques. Under another dynasty, another great mosque was built, the Kl-.V/.liar or I'liiversity mosque. in the newly founded ca]iital. Cairo, begun in !t(10. Here the same cloistered plan was used, but the churches were ilespoiled of coUunns for it, in l)lace of using piers. When, in 000, the mosque of KI-Hakim was built, however, the quadrangu- lar pier was used as in the mosque of Tulun. But its proportions are far slenderer and higher. It was about this time (e.lOOO) that Eg^'p- tian architects adopted the dome. Cairo's great characteristic is its nuiltitude of ihnnes. They were used mainly over funerary chapels. There now arose an important class of funerary mosques attached to royal tombs. The Egyptian rulers of the Katimite dynasty displaced the caliphs of Bagdad as principal patrons of .Mohammedan art. and the monuments of Syria. North .friea. and Sicily were inspired from Egypt during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. I'lidoubtedly it was the thorough study and application of geom- etry by Arab writers of the sihools of Bagdad and Cairo that made possible not only the scien- tific arehitectvire of this period, but the wonder- ful system of geometrical ornament that became so much a part of it. A consistent style was finally developed, which spread over the entire Mo- hammedan world from Spain and Jlorocco to Persia, and from Asia Minor to India. The minaret towers were multiplied and began to lose their early heaviness ( see .Mi.,iti;T) and to take on great varietv of forms, and. beini; l"iili " 'ip ■ as well as brick, they were better adapted to a richer ornamentation. The heavy walls were crowned with delicate battlements. Most characteristic was the invention of the stalactite pendentlve, on the basis of spherical polygons, as a unique constructive and decorative bond between the square plan and the cin'ular dome. Often this transitiim was assisted by a polygonal dome. The historical tendency was ever to raise the domes higher and make them more pointed. Their numbers multiplierl in the thir- teenth alid following centuries. The cemeteries of Cairo are full of ruined but Iwautiful media'val domical tombs. The mausoleum niosqties of Sul- tans Hasan. Barkuk, Kalt Bey, Kalaun, EI-Ghurl are the finest examples in Cairo of the domical style. The use of domes over simple sepulchral chambers had been easy, but its application to the mosque was dillicult. Beginning with the tomb of Esh-Shafi'y in 1211, passing through the stage of the tomb mosque of Ks-Salih in 1240, complete success was realized, under the impetus given by the Mameluke sultans in the mns(|ue of lla-an in 1350, where the plan is a (ireek cross centring about an open court, and with tlie domed chapel beyond the mihrab. This magnificent building was regarded as luiequaled in Mohammedan lands, its proportions are grandiose; the tunnel vaults over the arnis of its cross are bold. Stone and marble have definitely replaced brick. Dur- ing this time, however, the tyjie of the old clois- tered mos(pie had been continued in buildings not connected with tombs, such as those of Mibars (1208), of En-Xasir (1318), Kusun (1320), El- Maridany (1330). The system of stalactite con- struction passed from jiendentives to corbels, and was used to fill up gaps between all dill'erent planes. Like most of Mohanunedan work, it con- ceals under apiiarenl irregularity and freedom, not to say vagrant fancy, the most scientific accuracy of form. The wonderful development of decorative work at this time in mosaic, faience, wooil carving, niarlile inlay, metal, etc.. is noticed later in this article and in special articles. Sp.ix. Meanwhile, other .Mohammedan lands had been following the exanqde of Egypt, but with the exception of Spain their architecture has been neglected by students. The .VraboMy/.antine style of the monuments of Cordnva had ruled for about two centuries; a national ilohanune<lan style was formed shortly before 1000, as in Egypt, as shown in monuments of Tarragona, Se- govia, and especially Toledo and .Seville. The cusped and horseshoe arches became very decora- tive. Christian influence is still shown in mosques covered entirely by domes or roofs, like churches. The famous Giralda tower at Seville belongs to this middle style, while the alcazars, or Moorish palaces, at Seville, Segovia, and Ma- laga usher in the style of the Alhambra at Gra- nada. When in 1238 Granada became the capi- tal of the floors in Spain, its monuments ex- jiressed the development of native arts for the ensuing century. Here is f<nind the richest ex- tant combinati(m of the dilTerent kinds of surface decoration in which Mohammedan art excelled, however faulty it was in composition, construc- tion, and form. .Arabesque and geometrical ornament, stucco and faVence. mosaic and marble inlay cover every inch of space, and stalactites abotnid as well as open-work tracery. The round horseshoe arch yields to the flat pointed, stilted, and slinrlitly incurving arch. But though so rich, the iirnament of the .lhambra. being molded, lacks the life and flexibility of.the Egyptian work of the same kind, whii'h is done by hand in the soft plaster. See .i.Ti.MnR,. Pfr.sia. The Turks and .Mongols made such havoc of the earlier monuments of Mohanmiedali.' Persia, the retrion of Bagdail and the great north- ern States of Bokhara and Samarkand, that noth- ing has survived in thesi» regions belongintr to the periods thus far mentioned. But the four- teenth and fifteenth centuries, while they show a style certainly in full decailence. are inlerestin); because we can study it in smh a variet- of forms in different countries. The Tatars and Turks give their version of it, adapted both from Persia,