Fig. 349.—Mosque of Kāit Bey, Cairo. (L.-P.)
Wooden frames are often used in the construction of domes which support the plaster work. Some domes are built with slabs of stones on which a geometric pattern is carved on the outside (Figs. 348, 349); these are generally of a late period, as the tomb mosque of Kāit Bey, built about A.D. 1468 (Fig. 349). The oldest mosque in Cairo is that of Ibn Tūlūn (Fig. 350). It is a cloistered mosque, is built in a massive style, and has a high plain wall around it; it covers about four hundred square feet of ground. In the centre of the inner courtyard is a square stone building surmounted by a dome, one of the earliest carried on stalactites. This building is a century later than the cloisters, and is built over a well or fountain.
The great court is surrounded by arcades of pointed arches, that have a slight tendency to turn inwards at the base, and are built as piers of plastered brick; it is said to be the first mosque built on piers, instead of the usual round columns.
The Saracens did not make columns themselves, but took them from the ruins of Roman buildings, or even from existing Christian churches, and as often as not used the capitals turned upside down as bases.
The Saracens have a form of capital of Moorish design which harmonizes with their architecture; it has a slightly tapering, smooth, long neck, a heavy projecting head, and is well covered with characteristic foliated work (Fig. 351).
In the mosque of Ibn-Tūlūn there are only two columns; these are placed at the niche or mihrab. Three sides of this mosque have two rows of arches, and the fourth—the side towards Mecca—which is the liwān or sanctuary, has five. The architect of this mosque was a Coptic Christian, who received £5,000 and a costly dress of honour as his fee. The total cost of the building was £60,000 (Lane-Poole). Around the arches and the windows, which were placed high up between the arches, are bands of palmated ornament. These borders, according to Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole, are the earliest examples of geometrical design and scroll-work that afterwards became so characteristic of Saracenic ornament.
They were made in plaster or stucco-work by hand, while the plaster was wet, and not cast in moulds, which was the case of later Moorish plaster ornament.
Fig. 350.—Arcades in the Mosque of Ibn-Tūlūn. (L.-P.)
The arcades were roofed over with sycamore planks resting on heavy beams, and the whole structure was crowned with crenellations or embattlements. One of the back walls of the arcades is pierced with grilles of stone, of beautiful tracery design.