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XIII. — Moorish Architecture. To avoid confusion of dates, we will here insert a brief notice of Moorish or Saracenic architecture, before continu- ing our review of the Christian styles which subsequently developed themselves. Almost every new style of architecture is the result of the requirements of a new religion, and the Mohammedan mosques are a striking instance of this fact. The followers of the Prophet found Christian places of worship well suited to their own rites, and the earliest mosques were built by Christian architects from Constantinople, and much resembled Byzantine buildings. Gradually, however, the new style of decoration known as Arabesque was introduced, in which all representation of animals was eschewed, but a profuse and brilliant decorative effect was obtained, vegetable forms, geometrical figures and letters being interwoven into an endless diversity of patterns (Fig. 41). To Moorish architects we possibly owe the pointed arch itself, as well as the various forms of the foiled arches which have been so widely adopted in Christian buildings. They also originated the horse-shoe arch, which remains the most distinctive and original feature of Mohammedan architecture, and has very rarely been imitated. The internal arrangements of a mosque are not unlike those of a Christian church. The mosque almost invariably consists of porticoes surrounding an open square, in the centre of which is a tank or fountain for ablutions ; some T times, however, the central portion is circular, as in Byzantine buildings. In the south-east of the mosque is a pulpit, and in the direction in which Mecca lies is a EHA G