DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.67683#0257
MOHAMMEDAN PERIOD
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Fig. 83. Mosque of Sultan Hassan. Cairo. 1356—59
a.d. The angles formed by the recesses of the court are
filled with rooms for schools, offices, and apartments
for the attendants. The exterior of this mosque is built
of stone from the Pyramids of Gizeh; the interior,
except the great arches, of brick stuccoed. (Franz
Pasha)
171
piers with engaged columns at the corners, covered with stucco,
and decorated with floral borders worked by hand in the plaster
when it was soft.
The mosque of Sultan Hassan is more complex in plan (Fig. 83).
In the view of the court (Pl. 66 b), the great sweep of the pointed
arches by which the recesses open on the court is particularly
noble and impos-
ing. Because of
the large amount
of wall space,
there is but little
decoration. This
is concentrated
about the eastern
recess, the sanctu-
ary, and consists of
inlays of colored
marble and carv-
ings about the
niche and the
pulpit, and a
carved border with
an inscription (Pl.
69 a) at the spring-
ing of the vault.
Smaller mosques enabled the builders to decorate more lavishly.
This we see in the tomb-mosque of Kalt Bey (Pl. 66 c). That this
is a tomb as well as a mosque we know from the presence of the
dome that was used only to roof a mausoleum. Here the una-
dorned simplicity and massiveness of Ibn Tulun and Sultan Hassan
have given way to an effect of lightness and charm, with the em-
phasis upon decoration. The tall arched portal is elaborately
ornamented with carvings and stalactites; shallow recesses
enclosing the windows break up the wall surface; the slender,
graceful minaret, with projecting galleries from which stalac-
tites depend, is ornamented with niches and carvings; the con-
trasting dome with its virile sweep of line and its suggestion of
simple mass is covered with arabesque carvings; the usual crenel-
lation finishes the walls, for the overshadowing cornice rarely
finds a place in Mohammedan architecture. These elements,
however, do not combine to form so clear and harmonious a de-
sign as we find in the Greek temple or in the Gothic cathedral.
The eastern arm or sanctuary of the mosque (Pl. 67 a) opens
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Fig. 83. Mosque of Sultan Hassan. Cairo. 1356—59
a.d. The angles formed by the recesses of the court are
filled with rooms for schools, offices, and apartments
for the attendants. The exterior of this mosque is built
of stone from the Pyramids of Gizeh; the interior,
except the great arches, of brick stuccoed. (Franz
Pasha)
171
piers with engaged columns at the corners, covered with stucco,
and decorated with floral borders worked by hand in the plaster
when it was soft.
The mosque of Sultan Hassan is more complex in plan (Fig. 83).
In the view of the court (Pl. 66 b), the great sweep of the pointed
arches by which the recesses open on the court is particularly
noble and impos-
ing. Because of
the large amount
of wall space,
there is but little
decoration. This
is concentrated
about the eastern
recess, the sanctu-
ary, and consists of
inlays of colored
marble and carv-
ings about the
niche and the
pulpit, and a
carved border with
an inscription (Pl.
69 a) at the spring-
ing of the vault.
Smaller mosques enabled the builders to decorate more lavishly.
This we see in the tomb-mosque of Kalt Bey (Pl. 66 c). That this
is a tomb as well as a mosque we know from the presence of the
dome that was used only to roof a mausoleum. Here the una-
dorned simplicity and massiveness of Ibn Tulun and Sultan Hassan
have given way to an effect of lightness and charm, with the em-
phasis upon decoration. The tall arched portal is elaborately
ornamented with carvings and stalactites; shallow recesses
enclosing the windows break up the wall surface; the slender,
graceful minaret, with projecting galleries from which stalac-
tites depend, is ornamented with niches and carvings; the con-
trasting dome with its virile sweep of line and its suggestion of
simple mass is covered with arabesque carvings; the usual crenel-
lation finishes the walls, for the overshadowing cornice rarely
finds a place in Mohammedan architecture. These elements,
however, do not combine to form so clear and harmonious a de-
sign as we find in the Greek temple or in the Gothic cathedral.
The eastern arm or sanctuary of the mosque (Pl. 67 a) opens