DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26747#0446
382
SARAOENIC ARCHITECTUKE.
Book IX.
as old as 8 centuries before Cbrist, and Sir Gardner Wilkinson 1 has
pointed out its frequent use in the Christian churches of the Thebaid
before the era of the Idejra. It is true that, wherever the influence
of Eorne was thoroughly established, we find during the period of their
domination nothing but circular arches; but it is not a little curious
to find the pointed shape in the earliest Christian church of which we
have any knowledge—the one built in the age of Constantine over the
tomb of our Saviour at Jerusalem. There the older Oriental form
reappears, so timidly, it is true, as almost to escape observation, but
still showing how readily an Easteni people retum to ancient habits
and feelings as soon as the oppressing hand is removed. Other
examples of this age exist, I believe, at Diarbekr, and at other places
in that country; but they have neither been looked for, nor, when
seen, examined with the care they deserve. Pointed arches reappear
in tlie aqueducts of Justinian at Constantinople, and eviclently were
becoming or had become a current feature of architectural decoration
at the time of the great Moslem irruption. If no other proof of this
existed, the fact that the Saracenic architects used them almost exclu-
sively from the first ought to be sufficient to establish the fact. They
are found in the oldest part of the mosque which Amrou built at Fostat,
or Old Cairo, in the middle of the 7th century. No others are used con-
structively in tlie great mosque el Aksah built at Jerusalem at the end
of that century; and in the mosque of Ebn Touloun at Cairo, erected
in the 9tli century, the pointed arch is an essential and perfectly esta-
blished element of art, wholly superseding the round arch, or anything
approaching to it. It is true we still want examples to connect these
two points in its liistory. A little research will no doubt supply this,
but for our present purpose it is sufficient to know that this fomi of
arch was used by the first Saracenic architects a few years after the
commencement of the Moslem domination, and that during the 9th
century of our era it had become as essential a part of that art as it was
of Christian art in France in the 13th century.
1 In a paper read at the Royal Institution
of British Architects, July 16, 184-9. Sir
Gardner was then abroad, and was not, I
believe, aware that I had read a paper onlhe
same subject, attempting to prove the same
facts, on the 18th of the previous month.
SARAOENIC ARCHITECTUKE.
Book IX.
as old as 8 centuries before Cbrist, and Sir Gardner Wilkinson 1 has
pointed out its frequent use in the Christian churches of the Thebaid
before the era of the Idejra. It is true that, wherever the influence
of Eorne was thoroughly established, we find during the period of their
domination nothing but circular arches; but it is not a little curious
to find the pointed shape in the earliest Christian church of which we
have any knowledge—the one built in the age of Constantine over the
tomb of our Saviour at Jerusalem. There the older Oriental form
reappears, so timidly, it is true, as almost to escape observation, but
still showing how readily an Easteni people retum to ancient habits
and feelings as soon as the oppressing hand is removed. Other
examples of this age exist, I believe, at Diarbekr, and at other places
in that country; but they have neither been looked for, nor, when
seen, examined with the care they deserve. Pointed arches reappear
in tlie aqueducts of Justinian at Constantinople, and eviclently were
becoming or had become a current feature of architectural decoration
at the time of the great Moslem irruption. If no other proof of this
existed, the fact that the Saracenic architects used them almost exclu-
sively from the first ought to be sufficient to establish the fact. They
are found in the oldest part of the mosque which Amrou built at Fostat,
or Old Cairo, in the middle of the 7th century. No others are used con-
structively in tlie great mosque el Aksah built at Jerusalem at the end
of that century; and in the mosque of Ebn Touloun at Cairo, erected
in the 9tli century, the pointed arch is an essential and perfectly esta-
blished element of art, wholly superseding the round arch, or anything
approaching to it. It is true we still want examples to connect these
two points in its liistory. A little research will no doubt supply this,
but for our present purpose it is sufficient to know that this fomi of
arch was used by the first Saracenic architects a few years after the
commencement of the Moslem domination, and that during the 9th
century of our era it had become as essential a part of that art as it was
of Christian art in France in the 13th century.
1 In a paper read at the Royal Institution
of British Architects, July 16, 184-9. Sir
Gardner was then abroad, and was not, I
believe, aware that I had read a paper onlhe
same subject, attempting to prove the same
facts, on the 18th of the previous month.