Fig. 343.—Alhambra Diaper, Superposed Ornament.
Fig. 344.—Stalactite Vaulting.
In the youthful days of Saracenic power, as early as the second caliphate, Persia and Asia Minor had been plundered and pillaged of their costly and valuable objects in silver, gold, embroidered carpets, and silken goods. The wealth of the Moslem conquerors was now considerable, and was accumulating fast; the sight of so much that was fine and striking in the arts and architecture of the countries they had conquered, in the eyes of these people—who were no better than barbarians or banditti—began to have a more civilising effect on them. Add to this the influence of the Byzantine architecture, especially at Constantinople, with the Saracens, whose religion was in some respects not unlike the Christian, especially as in both cases there was the stern prohibition of idols or graven images; and so it was quite natural that the Moslem mosque should be built and decorated on the main lines of the Byzantine Christian church. The dome and the niche (mehrab) came from the Byzantine; the minarets—which are not strictly essential in Moslem architecture—probably from the Perseopolitan columns. The Moslem dome, however, may have had its origin in the domed palaces of Persia, of the Achæmedian dynasty. Saracenic ornament is mostly, however, derived from the geometric Byzantine with a strong dash of Indian forms in its mixture. The super-posing in their ornament of different planes (Fig. 343), the class of ornament known as “mnemonic” (Figs. [362], [363]), and the stalactite decoration of vaults and domes (Fig. 344)—all these three classes deserve the credit of being distinctly Saracenic, although some say that the stalactite ornament was known in Persia before the days of Mahomet.
Among the earliest mosques we may mention that of Omar at Jerusalem, which was supposed to be a small wooden mosque, now destroyed. Ferguson says it was the Mosque of El Aksah.
The Mosque of ’Amr at Old Cairo was built A.D. 641 by Amru-Ibn-al-Aās, the general and governor who conquered Egypt, A.H. 21 (after the Hegira). It has been frequently restored and enlarged. The columns which support the arcaded arches are classical in character, the arches are slightly horseshoe in the curve, and are tied together. The building is nearly square in plan (Figs. 345, 346).
Fig. 345.—East Colonnade of the Mosque of ’Amr. (L.-P.)
The mosque of Ibn-Tūlūn (Son of Tūlūn) in Old Cairo was built by Ahmad-ibn-Tūlūn, founder of the house of the Tūlūn governors of Egypt, A.H. 263-5. This mosque and that of ’Amr are what are known as “cloistered” mosques. The plan of the latter (Fig. 346) gives a general idea of a cloistered mosque. The essential requirements of a mosque are very few and simple. Mahomet’s mosque at Medina was a small square brick-built structure, with a wooden roof plastered over: the chief thing required was retirement from the public for meditation and prayer.