DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27192#0310
274
INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE. Book VII.
apartment, 135 ft. 5 in. each way; its area consequently is
18,337 sq. ft., while that of the Pantheon at Rome is, within
the walls, only 15,833 sq. ft. ; and even taking into account all
the recesses in the walls of both buildings, this is still the
larger of the two.
At the height of 57 ft. from the floor-line the hall begins
to contract, by a series of pendentives as ingenious as they
are beautiful, to a circular opening 97 ft. in diameter. On the
platform of these pendentives at a height of 109 ft. 6 in., the
dome is erected, 124 ft. 5 in. in diameter, thus leaving a gallery
more than 12 ft. wide all round the interior. Internally, the
dome is 178 ft. above the floor, and externally 198 ft. from the
outside platform ; its thickness at the springing is about 10 ft.,
and at the crown 9 ft.
The most ingenious and novel part of the construction of
416. Pendentives of the Tomb of Muhammad, looking upwards. (From a Drawing by
Mr Cumming.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.
this dome is the mode in which its lateral or outward thrust
is counteracted. This was accomplished by forming the
pendentives so that they not only cut off the angles, but
that, as shown in the plan, their arches intersect one another,
and form a very considerable mass of masonry perfectly
stable in itself; and, by its weight acting inwards, counter-
acting any thrust that can possibly be brought to bear upon it
by the pressure of the dome. If the whole edifice thus
INDIAN SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE. Book VII.
apartment, 135 ft. 5 in. each way; its area consequently is
18,337 sq. ft., while that of the Pantheon at Rome is, within
the walls, only 15,833 sq. ft. ; and even taking into account all
the recesses in the walls of both buildings, this is still the
larger of the two.
At the height of 57 ft. from the floor-line the hall begins
to contract, by a series of pendentives as ingenious as they
are beautiful, to a circular opening 97 ft. in diameter. On the
platform of these pendentives at a height of 109 ft. 6 in., the
dome is erected, 124 ft. 5 in. in diameter, thus leaving a gallery
more than 12 ft. wide all round the interior. Internally, the
dome is 178 ft. above the floor, and externally 198 ft. from the
outside platform ; its thickness at the springing is about 10 ft.,
and at the crown 9 ft.
The most ingenious and novel part of the construction of
416. Pendentives of the Tomb of Muhammad, looking upwards. (From a Drawing by
Mr Cumming.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.
this dome is the mode in which its lateral or outward thrust
is counteracted. This was accomplished by forming the
pendentives so that they not only cut off the angles, but
that, as shown in the plan, their arches intersect one another,
and form a very considerable mass of masonry perfectly
stable in itself; and, by its weight acting inwards, counter-
acting any thrust that can possibly be brought to bear upon it
by the pressure of the dome. If the whole edifice thus