Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/575

Rh Bk. I. Ch. V. PERSIA. 559 On the contrary, the Persian ])a,laces generally consist of a number of pavilions and detached halls, and smaller groups of apartments scat- tered over a large space interspersed with trees and gardens, and only connected by covered arcades or long lines of canals, the centre of which is adorned by fountains of the most elegant forms. Individually these detached buildings are often of great beatity and most elaborately ornamented, and the whole effect is pleasing and tasteful ; but for true architectural effect they are too scattered, and the whole is generally very deficient in grandeur. The throne-room at Teheran (Woodcut No. 992) is a fair specimen of these buildings, though, in fact, it is only a porch or deep recess opening on a garden, the front being supported or ornamented by two JonociODoniinfiiTn 992. Throne-room at Teheran. (From " Nineveh and Persepolis Restored.") twisted columns. In front of these a massive curtain is drawn out when the room is used, and both for color and richness of effect the curtain is virtually the principal feature in the composition. The next example is taken from the palace of Char Bagli, or the " Four Gardens," at Ispahan, and shows the general picturesque form these buildings assume. It is by no means so favorable a specimen as the last, though this may arise more from the nature of the building than from any defect on the part of its architect. Many of the pavilions in the same palace are ofgreat lightness and elegance, though, most of them being supported by wooden pillars, and being of very ephemeral construction, they hardly belong to the higher class of architectural art. The Caravanserais form another class of buildings, not peculiar, it is true, to Persia, but which, from the character of the traffic in mer-