DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26747#0527
Chap. Y.
SPAIN.
463
At the upper encl of tHs court is an oblong hall, called that of
Jndgment (d), and on either side two smaller rooms, that of the
Ahencerrages (e) on the south, and that called “ of the Two Sisters ”
(f) opposite, the latter heing the most varied and elegant apartment
of the whole palace. The walls of all these are ornamented with
geometric and flowing patterns of very great heauty and richness, and
applied with unexceptionahle taste for such a decoration; hut it is on
the roofs and larger arcades that the fatal facility of plaster hecomes
more apparent. Instead of the simple curves of the dome, the roofs
are made up of honeycomhed or stalactite pattems, which look more
like natural rock-work than thefonns of an art, which should he always
more or less formal and comprehensihle at a glance, at least in their
greater lines and divisions. There is perhaps no instance where a
Saracenic architect has so nearly approached the limits of good taste
as here, and it requires all the countervailing elements of situation
and comparison with other ohjects to redeem it froin the charge of
having exceeded them.
Behind the Hall of the Two Sisters, ancl on a lower level, are
situated the haths (g) of the palace—heautiful in some respects, ancl
appropriately adomed, hut scarcely worthy, I cannot help thinking,
of such a palace as this.
Besides the edifices mentioned ahove, there is scarcely a town in
Spain that once was occupied hy the Moors that cloes not still retain
some traces of the art of this people. These traces, however, are
generally found in the remains of haths, which from their nature were
more solidly huilt than their other ediflces, and generally were vaultecl
with hricks—-frequently with octagonal domes supported on 12 pillars,
as those in the East. These in consequence have survived, while
their frailer palaces have yielded to the influence of time, and their
mosques have disappeared hefore the ruthless higotry of their successors.
jSTone of these seem to he of sufficient importance to require notice.
We miss entirely in Spain the tomhs which in the last chapter
formed so important a feature. This total ahsence of monuments of
tliis class is a certain indication that there was no mixture of Tartar
blood in the veins of th'e Moors who conquered and held Spain. This
same peculiarity imparts to the whole style of Saracenic art in Spain
its distinctive character. But for this the style woulcl have heen more
solid and monumental. Domes would have heen more in favour, and,
in short, the Spanish Moors would have left hehind them remains
more nearly corresponding to those of the other Mahometan countries
which have already heen noticed.1
1 Nothing need be said here of La Cuba
and La Ziza, and other buildings in Sieily,
whieh, though usually ascribed to the Moors,
have now been ascertained to 'have been built
by the Normans after their conquest of th'e
island in thellth century. They are Moorish
in style, it is true, and were probably erected
by Moorish artists, but so were many churehes
and chapels in Spain whichwe shall have occa-
sion to mention in a future part of the work ;
and I am not aware of any building now ex-
tant there which can be safely ascribed to the
time when the island was held by the Mos-
lems, and which was then erected by them for
their own purposes. Till such is ascertained
Sicily of course does not come within the
part of our subject which we are now con-
sidering.
SPAIN.
463
At the upper encl of tHs court is an oblong hall, called that of
Jndgment (d), and on either side two smaller rooms, that of the
Ahencerrages (e) on the south, and that called “ of the Two Sisters ”
(f) opposite, the latter heing the most varied and elegant apartment
of the whole palace. The walls of all these are ornamented with
geometric and flowing patterns of very great heauty and richness, and
applied with unexceptionahle taste for such a decoration; hut it is on
the roofs and larger arcades that the fatal facility of plaster hecomes
more apparent. Instead of the simple curves of the dome, the roofs
are made up of honeycomhed or stalactite pattems, which look more
like natural rock-work than thefonns of an art, which should he always
more or less formal and comprehensihle at a glance, at least in their
greater lines and divisions. There is perhaps no instance where a
Saracenic architect has so nearly approached the limits of good taste
as here, and it requires all the countervailing elements of situation
and comparison with other ohjects to redeem it froin the charge of
having exceeded them.
Behind the Hall of the Two Sisters, ancl on a lower level, are
situated the haths (g) of the palace—heautiful in some respects, ancl
appropriately adomed, hut scarcely worthy, I cannot help thinking,
of such a palace as this.
Besides the edifices mentioned ahove, there is scarcely a town in
Spain that once was occupied hy the Moors that cloes not still retain
some traces of the art of this people. These traces, however, are
generally found in the remains of haths, which from their nature were
more solidly huilt than their other ediflces, and generally were vaultecl
with hricks—-frequently with octagonal domes supported on 12 pillars,
as those in the East. These in consequence have survived, while
their frailer palaces have yielded to the influence of time, and their
mosques have disappeared hefore the ruthless higotry of their successors.
jSTone of these seem to he of sufficient importance to require notice.
We miss entirely in Spain the tomhs which in the last chapter
formed so important a feature. This total ahsence of monuments of
tliis class is a certain indication that there was no mixture of Tartar
blood in the veins of th'e Moors who conquered and held Spain. This
same peculiarity imparts to the whole style of Saracenic art in Spain
its distinctive character. But for this the style woulcl have heen more
solid and monumental. Domes would have heen more in favour, and,
in short, the Spanish Moors would have left hehind them remains
more nearly corresponding to those of the other Mahometan countries
which have already heen noticed.1
1 Nothing need be said here of La Cuba
and La Ziza, and other buildings in Sieily,
whieh, though usually ascribed to the Moors,
have now been ascertained to 'have been built
by the Normans after their conquest of th'e
island in thellth century. They are Moorish
in style, it is true, and were probably erected
by Moorish artists, but so were many churehes
and chapels in Spain whichwe shall have occa-
sion to mention in a future part of the work ;
and I am not aware of any building now ex-
tant there which can be safely ascribed to the
time when the island was held by the Mos-
lems, and which was then erected by them for
their own purposes. Till such is ascertained
Sicily of course does not come within the
part of our subject which we are now con-
sidering.