Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/871

 1809.] Architectural Influences. 703 Parker's, " Glossary of Architecture," asserts that the pointed arch is to be found in Mohammedan buildings as early as 780, A. D, although the earliest examples of its use in Christian Archi- tecture occur during the twelfth century. The finest specimen of the Moorish Architecture extant, and probably the noblest result of the style ever attained, is the " Kal-at-al-hamra," (Red Castle,) the citadel of the city of Grenada. This superb pile, commonly called " Alhambra" from a corruption of the Aral lie name, was the palace of the Moorish kings, and is so well known to all readers as to render unnecessary any detailed description of it. The delicate airiness of its outlines, the elegance of its columns and arches, the grace of its pinnacles, and the gorgeous colorings of its tesselated floors, are so many lasting monuments of the taste and voluptuous refinement of the Moorish sovereigns who flourished from the mid- dle of the thirteenth to the middle of the fourteenth centuries. It is the very place to inspire the fancy with romantic imaginings and fill the mind with legends of forgotten lore. Even our own countryman, Washington Irving, loved it as he loved few other spots ; he lingered affectionately week after week amid its halls and gardens, and trod with a feeling akin to awe its beautiful terraces ; he lounged lazily in the " Court of Lions " during the haze and heat of a Grenada day, and wandered at night, gazing with admiration at the splendid but decaying beauty of the " Tower of Las Infantas." Into his historical description of the Alhambra, he has so blended the beau- tiful legends of the place, and in many instances has given such free scope to his own poetic imagination, as to render it one of the most charming of his works. The Alhambra is indeed an outgrowth of the theories^ and doctrines of the Moors. . A people warlike, — barbarous in war, — they nevertheless possessed in many cases the quintessence of refinement during peace. They were thoroughly susceptible to luxury and elegance, yet because they had the nerve to drop all this when the time for vigorous action came, we call them barbarous. That they were savage in war, any one who has" read the history of their invasion of Spain must know; that they were refined in peace, is proved by the gorgeous yet elegant conceptions of the Alhambra; that they were unswerving in their religion, and rigidly observant of its forms, is shown not only by their written history, but by the careful exclusion from the ornaments of the same building, of all figures and devices, save those in strict accordance with the Mohammedan creed. Here is an instance in which architec- tural style is not only influenced at the start by religious belief, but in which the effect of that influence is maintained and augmented by the further develop, ment of the belief. Any material changes which occurred in the Moorish (Arabian) style, between the time of its birth and the erection of the Alhambra, are ascribable solely to the different inter- pre.ations and constructions which, in course of time, naturally come to be put upon the original dogmas of a church. We find this to be the case in Christian churches, and out of respect to ourselves and our profession, cannot wonder at in Pagans. Mohammed gave certain com- mandments and enunciated certain theories, but the savants among his followers, in course of years, thinking doubtless that they now saw by a clearer light than formerly, prescribed forms and regulations which, though possibby at variance with all pre-con- ceived notions, were adopted as being the true intention of the Prophet. With respect to the Architecture of the Greeks, there can be little doubt that its details were as much the result of the national religion as was its origin.