DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.67683#0256
170
MOHAMMEDAN PERIOD
natural to find his architecture devoted chiefly to the mosque
and the palace. As far as worship was concerned, his needs were
simple: a secluded place, away from the noise of the streets, where
a fountain provided water for ablution, for he must bathe before
going to worship, and a place protected from the hot sun, where,
with face turned toward Mecca, he could pray. This direction
was indicated to him by
a niche in the wall of
the mosque, beside
which was a pulpit from
which the Friday (the
Mohammedan Sunday)
sermon was preached; a
little in front of these
stood the raised plat-
form from which the
Koran was recited and
prayers chanted. These
constitute the sanctuary
of a mosque (Pl. 67 a).
The early cloistered
mosque o£Ibn Tulun (Pl.
65 c and Fig. 82.) ade-
quately supplies these
needs. It consists of a
great open court with
a fountain in the center,
surrounded by covered
arcades two deep on three sides but five deep on the sanctuary
side, the special place of prayer, that is, the end facing toward
Mecca; and a girdle wall, standing fifty feet outside the mosque
walls on three sides, which gives the building added seclusion.
The exterior presents a plain, massive wall with a row of small
windows and simple unadorned doorways, the only decoration
being a crenellated parapet. At one side rises the minaret, the
tower from which the muezzin calls to prayer; it is rectangular,
partaking of the same simple boldness and massiveness as the rest
of the mosque. An external ramp provides a means of ascent,
which carries the mind back to the ramp towers of old
Babylonia (Fig. 39).3 Entering the arcades (Pl. 66 a) we see
that the pointed arches supporting the flat roof rise from brick
Fig. 8x. Mosque of Ibn Tulun. Cairo. 876-
878 a.d. A, court; B, fountain; C, covered ar-
cades; D, niche (mihrab') indicating the direction
of Mecca; E, pulpit (jnimbary, F, tribune (dikkehy
G, girdle wall. The court is 300 ft. square.
3 For the development of the ramp tower into the modern church steeple, see Breasted,
Ancient Times, Fig. 272.
MOHAMMEDAN PERIOD
natural to find his architecture devoted chiefly to the mosque
and the palace. As far as worship was concerned, his needs were
simple: a secluded place, away from the noise of the streets, where
a fountain provided water for ablution, for he must bathe before
going to worship, and a place protected from the hot sun, where,
with face turned toward Mecca, he could pray. This direction
was indicated to him by
a niche in the wall of
the mosque, beside
which was a pulpit from
which the Friday (the
Mohammedan Sunday)
sermon was preached; a
little in front of these
stood the raised plat-
form from which the
Koran was recited and
prayers chanted. These
constitute the sanctuary
of a mosque (Pl. 67 a).
The early cloistered
mosque o£Ibn Tulun (Pl.
65 c and Fig. 82.) ade-
quately supplies these
needs. It consists of a
great open court with
a fountain in the center,
surrounded by covered
arcades two deep on three sides but five deep on the sanctuary
side, the special place of prayer, that is, the end facing toward
Mecca; and a girdle wall, standing fifty feet outside the mosque
walls on three sides, which gives the building added seclusion.
The exterior presents a plain, massive wall with a row of small
windows and simple unadorned doorways, the only decoration
being a crenellated parapet. At one side rises the minaret, the
tower from which the muezzin calls to prayer; it is rectangular,
partaking of the same simple boldness and massiveness as the rest
of the mosque. An external ramp provides a means of ascent,
which carries the mind back to the ramp towers of old
Babylonia (Fig. 39).3 Entering the arcades (Pl. 66 a) we see
that the pointed arches supporting the flat roof rise from brick
Fig. 8x. Mosque of Ibn Tulun. Cairo. 876-
878 a.d. A, court; B, fountain; C, covered ar-
cades; D, niche (mihrab') indicating the direction
of Mecca; E, pulpit (jnimbary, F, tribune (dikkehy
G, girdle wall. The court is 300 ft. square.
3 For the development of the ramp tower into the modern church steeple, see Breasted,
Ancient Times, Fig. 272.