Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/544

528 528 SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE. Tart Hi. which, if we may trust the accounts which have been handed down to us, Avas by far the most wonderful work of the Moors in Spain. This indeed might be expected, for, as has been before remarked, the palaces were the princij^al buildings of this peoi^le, and this being of the very best age in ight naturally be expected to excel any other edifice erected by them. Hardly a stone now remains to mark even the spot where it stood. Its destruction commenced shortly after its comjjletion, in the troubles of the 11th century, even before the city fell into the hands of the Christians, and we therefore depend wholly on the Arabian historians from whom Conde and Murphy compiled their accounts; but as they, with Maccary, describe the mosque in the same page with the ])alace, and do not exaggerate, nor say otie word too much in praise of the former, we cannot refuse credence to their description of the latter. According to these authors the enclosing wall of the palace was 4000 ft. in length E. and W., and 2200 ft. N". and S. The greater part of this sjDace was occupied by gardens, but these, with their marble fountains, kiosks, and ornaments of various kinds, must have surpassed in beauty, and perhaps even in cost, the moi*e strictly architectural parts of the building. 4300 columns of the most precious marbles supported the roofs of the halls; 1013 of these were brought from Africa, 19 from Rome, and 140 were presented by the Em])eror of Constantinojile to Abd el-Rahman, the princely founder of this sumptuous edifice. All the halls were paved with marbles in a thousand varied patterns. The walls, too, were of the same precious material, and ornamented with friezes of the most brilliant colors. The roofs, constructed of cedar, were ornamented with gilding on an azure ground, with damasked work and interlacing designs. All, in short, that the unbounded wealth of the caliphs of that period could command was lavished on this favorite retreat, and all that the art of Constantinople and Bagdad could contribute to aid the taste and executive skill of the Spanish Arabs was enlisted to make it the most perfect work of its age. Did this palace of Zahra now remain to us we could afford to despise the Alhambra and the works of that declining age of Moorish art. Among other buildings contained within the great enclosure of the palace Avas a mosque. Tliis had five aisles, the central one Avider than the others. The total length from the Kibleh, or niche pointing to Mecca, to the opposite wall Avas 91 cubits (146 ft.), the breadth from E. to W. 49 cubits (74 ft.). It Avas finished in the year 941, and seems to have been one of the last works of tbe palace, having been commencfed in 936. From this description it is clear that it Avas virtually a five-aisled church, and, as no mention is made of the court, we may fancy that, like the seven-aisled Aksah at Jerusalem,