Page:From Constantinople to the home of Omar Khayyam.djvu/348

 198 AMONG HISTORIC SITES

The other mausoleum, standing a short distance away to the right, is like its companion in form and construction. It is the shrine of the blessed Kasim (or Imamzadah Kasim Khan), the contemporary and friend of Bayazid, and the sharer in his sanctity. Its conical roof, below which runs a band of bluish tiles, embellished by graceful arabesques, is practically the counterpart of its fellow, as already indicated, except that its caption is a simple knob of metal. ^

The mosque itself forms the lower left-hand corner of the enclosure, but is unimpressive because of its low, flat roof, the only noticeable feature being the four blind arches in the outer wall. Inscriptions in the interior, noted by Fraser, imply that the edifice was built in 1299 by the Mongol ruler Khudabandah Khan, though Khanikoff found an earlier date (1261-62) in the oratory, so that it may be still older, and may have been restored.^

The minaret, which is built into a corner of the mosque, is the chef d^oeuvre of the entire group. Rising from a low square base, it lifts its cylindrical shaft of yellowish unglazed bricks to a graceful height, though lower than its compeers in the cities of Damghan and Semnan, already described. ^ It lacks any trace of colored tiles, but its raised geometric patterns and circling belts of Koranic texts make full compensation, not the least impressive being the fretted stalactite work on its elaborate summit, though the effect is now diminished by the loss of the crowning gallery, which reveals only a bald, round pillar with an opening from the interior staircase.* As a whole

details regarding the exterior of this was 660 a.h. = 1261-62 a.d. Sarre,

mausoleum, accompanied by illustra- • who quotes both these authorities (in

tive plates, see Sarre, Denkmdler, Denkmdler, Textband, p, 117), is in-

Lieferung 1, p. 3 ; Textband, p. 117. clined to regard the mosque as being

1 A hundred years ago, Fraser, p. one of the oldest structures in the en- 337, commented on the well-kept con- tire precinct.

2 The date seen by Fraser, p. 336, feet, as rightly observed by Fraser, in 1822, was 699 a.h. = 1299-1300 a.d. ; p. 337.

the date observed in the oratory by * For some added details cf. Khani-

Khanikoff {Memoire, p. 79 f.) in 1858, koff, Memoire, pp. 78-80.

�� �