Among the most noteworthy still-existing examples of Indo-Saracenic architecture are the early 15th century Jumna Musjid or Great Mosque at Ahmedabad, that has certain details recalling Hindu post and lintel structures; the late 15th century Adinah mosque at Gaur, which has 385 domes; the 16th century Jumna Musjid at Bijapur, that has the singular feature of a central space covered in by a dome upheld by intersecting arches, set in a number of squares with flat roofs; the Mosque built by Akbar in the second half of the 16th century at Futtehpore Sikhri, the gateways of which are specially characteristic; and the remarkable buildings at Delhi and Agra, erected in the 17th century under the enlightened Shah Jehan, including in the former city the Jumna Musjid and the fortified palace, and in the latter the Moti Musjid or Pearl Mosque, and the Taj Mahal, both exceptionally beautiful, in which the Saracenic style may justly be said to have reached its culmination, nothing that can be compared with them having been since produced either in India or elsewhere. The Taj Mahal, built by the Emperor as a tomb for himself and his favourite wife, is indeed of dream-like and ethereal charm, with its well-proportioned domes and minarets, cased, as is the rest of the exterior, in white marble, and its interior enriched with mosaics of precious stones.
CHAPTER VI
ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE
The term Romanesque is given to the period between the beginning of the 9th and the middle of the 12th century, but there was no real break in the continuity of the evolution of Christian architecture in Europe from the time when that art first freed itself from Pagan influence till it reached its noblest development in the Gothic style.
From first to last the keynote of structure was the use of the arch for vaulting and for the spanning of piers and columns, and its form is, as a general rule, indicative of the phase of development to which it belongs. Although, however, it may be said that the semicircular arch is characteristic of Romanesque buildings, the lintel is occasionally used simultaneously with it in interiors, and the chief entrances are in many cases spanned by horizontal beams or courses of stone that are, however, as a general rule surmounted by arches. Moreover in late Romanesque work the pointed arch is now and then introduced shadowing forth the approaching change.
It was not in the invention of new forms of vaulting but in the adaptation and improvement of those already in existence that Romanesque architects chiefly displayed their skill. The earliest Romanesque vaults were simple intersecting arches similar to those which had long been in use, but as time went on these were superseded by what is known as ribbed vaulting; that is to say by roofs divided into bays by a framework of diagonal ribs supporting fillings in of thin stone called severes, which in their turn gradually developed into the complex and ornate system of Gothic vaulting. To counteract the thrust of arched and ribbed vaulting the device of buttresses was hit upon. These buttresses consisted at first of a series of supports introduced beneath the roof of the aisles and extending from the back of the nave to the aisle wall, which were later supplemented by the external buttresses known as flying, that were to be so distinctive a feature of Gothic architecture.
Other characteristics of Romanesque architecture are the slenderness of the columns as compared with those of earlier buildings, the disuse of classic capitals, and the substitution for them of what is known as the basket form, that is to say, semicircular mouldings enclosing floral designs, later replaced by a great variety of forms, such as flowers, leaves, human and animals' heads. The grouping of columns in clusters also came into use, the general tendency being towards the production of an effect of grace and lightness rather than of strength and solidity. Arched cornices were introduced to relieve the monotony of the walls above the pillars of the nave, whilst an even more marked change took place in the windows, which, though small and few in early Renaissance buildings, gradually increased in number, in size, and in the beauty of their tracery. At the eastern end of churches several windows were in some cases grouped together, divided only by slender pilasters, and above the western entrance large circular windows known as the rose or wheel—according to certain peculiarities of their tracery—were introduced, whilst the walls were pierced by rows of complex windows, each with a number of different lights.