ciiAi. ir. ARABIAN Oil SARACENIC.

iiiilikcly tliat tliL'ir skill in goidiietry greatly assisted them in the extraordinary combination
of lines to be tbimd in tlieir liecorations, wliicli notliing can surpass
;
nor was it till the time of the Abassides that the Arabians becam.;
fully ac(iuainted with what had been ilone by the Greeks. 'I'his
knowledge was not confined to them, for there is abundant jjrootl
1. That all the modern arts, as well of the North, as of the West
:\nd South, had tlieir origin from the Greek em])ire at Constantinople,
which at that jieriod gave the fashion in them, as did Italy five cen-
tiuies afterwards. 2. That the ])lans of churches and mosques are
traceable to that of the ancient basilica, as in the citadels of the
middle ages, and the jjalaces of the Greek emperors, are to be found
the types of the Gothic castle and of the Mores(|ue alcazar. 3. That
the Gothic and Saracenic styles attained their several perfection in very
'
diflerent manners as to tin- details of their distribution and ornament,
and ac(]uired peculiar characters, which in both may be divided into three ])eriods, the last in
each being lost in the change that took place in Italy on the revival of the arts. The
periods of the Gothic will be noticed under the proi)er section
l'2G. The fimt
period m the history of Moresque architecture is from the foundation of
Islamisin to the ninth century, of which the finest exainjile was the AIos(jue of Cordova in
Spain. This was commenced in 770 by Abderahman, and finished bv his son and successor,
I lisham. Its )lan is a parallelogram, whose longest side is 6"'iO ft. l)y 440, formed by a wall
and coimterforts, both of which are embattled. The height of the wall varies from 3.5 to
(iOft., and its thickness is 8 ft. The whole of the tpiadrangular space is internally divided
i".to two parts, viz. a court of 210 ft. in dejith, the mosque itself covering the remainder ol
the area. The mosque consists of nineteen navcs ^of a jiortion of one whereof ficf. 82. is a
diagram) formed by seventeen ranks of columns, and a wall pieiced
with arches, from south to north, and thirty-two narrower naves from
east to west. Each of these naves is aliout 16 ft. wide from north to
south, and about 400 ft. long, their width in the ojiposite direction
being less. Thus the intersection of the naves with each other
produces 8,50 columns, which, with fifty-two columns in the court,
form a total of upwards of 900 cohimn.s. They are about 18 in. in
diameter, the mean height of them is al)oiit 1.5 ft., and they are covered
with a species of Corinthian and Composite capital, of which there
are many varieties. The columns have neither socle nor base, and are
c:innected by arches from i.ne to another. The ceilings are of wood,
p.iinted, each range forming, on the outside, a small roof, siparated from
those adjoining by a gutter. Tlie variety of the marbles of the colunuis
produces an ell'ect of richness which all agree is very striking. They were most probably
|)rocured from the Roman ruins of the city. It is iml)o^sible to pass over the description
of tills mosque without calling to inind the resemblance it bears in its arrangement to the
l);isilicas at Rome. The reader who has seen St. Agnese and St. Paolo fuori le mura. we
are sure, will think with us. After the conquest of Cordova in I '-'36, this moscpie was
converted into a cathedral. In 1528. it was much disfigured by modern erections, which
were necessary for hetter ad.q)ting it to the service of the Christian religion. These,
however, have not so far ruined its ancient effect as to prevent an idea being formed of it
when m its splendour. The decorations throughout are in stucco, painted of various colours,
decorated with legends, and occasionally gilt like the churches of the Lower Ein])'re.
127. In the second period, the style greatly improveo in elegance. It lasted till the close
of the thirteenth century, just before whicii time was founded the royal jialace and fortress
of the Alhambra, at Granada {Jit]. 83.),
])erlia])s the most perfect model of ])ure Arabian
architecture that has existed. During this i)eriod, no traces of the Byzantine style are to be
found. An exuberance of well-tempered ornament is seen in their edifices, whose distribution
and luxury manifest the highest degree of refinement. Speaking of the interior of the building
above mentioned, M. de Laborde says, that it exhibits
"
tout ce que la voluptii, la gr;ice,
I'industrie peuvent reunir de plus agreable et de plus parfait." After passing the principal
eirrance, you arrive at two oblong courts ;
one whereof, celebrated in Arabian history, called
the Court of the Lions, is in
Jig.
84. represented on the following page. This court is
100 ft. long and .50 ft. broad, having 128 columns of white marble. Round these two courts,
on the ground floor, are disposed the apartments of the palace. Those for state look out
towards the country ; the rest, cooler aixl more retired, have openings for light under the
inteiior i)orticoes. The whole is on one ])lane, the walls being ])laced so as exactly to suit
the plateau of the rock ; its entire length is about 2300 ft., and breadth 600 ft. The doors
are few and large, and the windows, except on the side where the landscape is most magni-
ficent, are chiefly towards the interior. In one of the apartments, the Arabian architect
nas, in an inscription, given his reason for this adoption, in the following terms:

" iMy
vindows admit the ligiit, and exclude t!:e view of external objects, lest the beauties of