HEARTH AND HOME.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18369, 30 April 1925, Page 5

HEARTH AND HOME.

MOSLEM ARCHITECTURE. AN INTERESTING LECTURE. Mr E. T. Eiehnioud, lecturing in London recently on the buildings of the Orient, described the development of Moslem architecture during . the Fatimid and Ayguli periods. Egyp'j he said, was a country Troll adapted for both stono and brick building, and one material or the other became predominantly aised accordingly as Egypt fell under the influence of stone-building countries like Anatolia or- brick-build-ing countries like Mesopotamia and Persia. The fact that the Fatimids upheld a doctrine that had bee„ brought from Persia had great . influence on Egyptian architecture so long as the country was under their sway. Summarising the development which took place under their rule, he said that in its broad lines the traditional plan of the mosque .was not changed—the walled enclosure for seclusion, the roofed sanctuary at one end to which sheltered access was given by cloisters round the other sides, leaving in the middle an open court for ablutions, were still its main features. But tho tomb in the form of a domed shrine was -becoming important, and formed for the first time part of the mosque plan. The position of the minaret was above the main entrance.

Saucer Domes. Among new devices were vaults and saucer domes for roofs, corbels decorated by stalactites and structural niches for effecting transitions from one form to another, the stilted dome, the joggled lintel, the coloured window with glass set in fretted plaster, the grill in stone, fretted plaster or wood and set in the same opening, as the coloured window, but outside it, a great elaboration in the system of ornamentation by a combination of a geometrical framework witli floral patterns and the minaret with successive storeys passing from square to octagon and from octagon to circle. All these elements, so characteristic of Moslem architecture, appeared first under the Tatiniii dynasty. Lastly came the elaboration of the facade by means of a series of shallow "niches with stone piers between them —a development that came witli the introduction of stone workers from countries that lately had belonged to the Byzantine Empire.

Schools Needed. "Under Snladin, wlio followed the Fathnids, Sunui ascendancy was restored; and schools were needed for teaching the orthodox doctrine of Islam. Hence the building of madrassas. Two branches of knowledge were taught in these: the knowledge inherited from antiquity—such subjects as mathematics, . astronomy, physics, •medicine, grammar, and philosophy—and the knowledge of the Moslem religion, the Moslem eodo of laws, and the traditional precepts by which a Moslem should conduct his life in all matters. There were four orthodox schools of tradition; all could be accommodated iu the same building, but it was necessary to provide a separate hall for each. To the period following that of the line of Saladin, that of the Mamluke.', which lasted from the middle of the thirteenth century onwards for more than 250 years, wc owed the most brilliant series of monuments of Moslem architecture-that remained to us.