FIG. 87.—MOSQUE OF MEHMET II.
, CONSTANTINOPLE. PLAN.
(The dimensions figured in metres.
)
In none of these monuments is there the internal magnificence of marble and mosaic of the Byzantine churches. These are only in a measure replaced by Persian tile-wainscoting and stained-glass windows of the Arabic type. The division into stories and the treatment of scale are less well managed than in the Hagia Sophia; on the other hand, the proportion of height to width is generally admirable. The exterior treatment is unique and effective, far superior to the Byzantine practice. The massing of domes and half-domes and roofs is more artistically arranged; and while there is little of that minute carved detail found in Egypt and India, the composition of the lateral arcades, the simple but impressive domical peristyles of the courts, and the graceful forms of the pointed arches, with alternating voussoirs of white and black marble, are artistic in a high degree. The minarets are, however, inferior to those of Indian, Persian, and Arabic art, though graceful in their proportions.
FIG. 88.—EXTERIOR AHMEDIYEH MOSQUE.
Nearly all the great mosques are accompanied by the domical tombs (turbeh) of their imperial founders. Some of these are of noble size and great beauty of proportion and decoration. The Tomb of Roxelana (Khourrem), the favorite wife of Soliman the Magnificent (1553), is the most beautiful of all, and perhaps the most perfect gem of Turkish architecture, with its elegant arcade surrounding the octagonal domical mausoleum-chamber. The monumental fountains of Constantinople also deserve mention. Of these, the one erected by Ahmet III. (1710), near Hagia Sophia, is the most beautiful. They usually consist of a rectangular marble reservoir with pagoda-like roof and broad eaves, the four faces of the fountain adorned each with a niche and basin, and covered with relief carving and gilded inscriptions.
