DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45594#0066
32
II. B. i. Kasr Ibn Wardan.
west arches were filled up solid, and formed a square that extended up to half the
height of the pendentive; this weight secured the lower sections of the pendentives
(D in 111. 28). At the level C. the octagon wall in the middle of the pendentive was
extremely thin (only 50 cm.), as may be seen in the photograph (Ill. 27), and would
never have stood, but for the fact that the window opens at this point, and its arch,
at level B., carries the superincumbent weight off on either side to the heavier walls ad-
joining. This was a most
unusual and difficult
piece of construction,
and would seem a very
dangerous one ; yet, ac-
cording to the Bedawin
of the region, the dome
was standing within the
memory of men.
Vaulting. It is espe-
cially worthy of notice
that many of the arches
in this building are not
semi-circular, but are
two-centred, and conse-
quently bluntly pointed.
The arch of the apse
and the four great arches
that carried the dome
are all struck from two
points, 30 cm. on either
side of the actual centre.
The arches of the tri-
forium are likewise two
centred, and the arches
of the lower arcade are
both pointed and stilted,
as may be seen from
my photographs and
from those of Dr. von
Oppenheim. 1 The vaults of the aisles, the narthex, the triforium gallery, and the two
stories of chambers beside the apse are of two kinds, tunnel vaults and cross-vaults.
But] of these latter there are two varieties: the one square, the other oblong, and hence
domed. The vaulting of the stairway presents a third form. As may be seen in the
groundjpplan (Ill. 25), the spaces between two solid walls, in the aisles and triforium
gallery, were covered with simple tunnel vaults. The angles where the side aisles met
the western aisle, in both stories, were covered with square cross-vaults, with semi-cir-
» Ibid. Abb. 95.
II. B. i. Kasr Ibn Wardan.
west arches were filled up solid, and formed a square that extended up to half the
height of the pendentive; this weight secured the lower sections of the pendentives
(D in 111. 28). At the level C. the octagon wall in the middle of the pendentive was
extremely thin (only 50 cm.), as may be seen in the photograph (Ill. 27), and would
never have stood, but for the fact that the window opens at this point, and its arch,
at level B., carries the superincumbent weight off on either side to the heavier walls ad-
joining. This was a most
unusual and difficult
piece of construction,
and would seem a very
dangerous one ; yet, ac-
cording to the Bedawin
of the region, the dome
was standing within the
memory of men.
Vaulting. It is espe-
cially worthy of notice
that many of the arches
in this building are not
semi-circular, but are
two-centred, and conse-
quently bluntly pointed.
The arch of the apse
and the four great arches
that carried the dome
are all struck from two
points, 30 cm. on either
side of the actual centre.
The arches of the tri-
forium are likewise two
centred, and the arches
of the lower arcade are
both pointed and stilted,
as may be seen from
my photographs and
from those of Dr. von
Oppenheim. 1 The vaults of the aisles, the narthex, the triforium gallery, and the two
stories of chambers beside the apse are of two kinds, tunnel vaults and cross-vaults.
But] of these latter there are two varieties: the one square, the other oblong, and hence
domed. The vaulting of the stairway presents a third form. As may be seen in the
groundjpplan (Ill. 25), the spaces between two solid walls, in the aisles and triforium
gallery, were covered with simple tunnel vaults. The angles where the side aisles met
the western aisle, in both stories, were covered with square cross-vaults, with semi-cir-
» Ibid. Abb. 95.