Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/425

 Bk. IV. Ch. VI. PALACE AT MASinTA. 393 and left them to execute it, and they introduced the vine — which had been the principal " motivo " in such designs from the time of Herod till the Moslem invasion — and other details of the Byzantine art with which Justinian had made them familiar from his buildings at Jeru- salem, Antioch, and elsewhere. Exactly the same thing happened in India six centuries later. When the Moslems conquered that country in the beginning of the thirteenth century they built Mosques at Delhi and Ajmere which are still among the most beautiful to be found anywhere. The design and outline are purely Saracenic, but every detail is Hindu, l-GT. Arch of Cliosroes at T:ikl-i-liosl;ui. (From Fhui.liii and Coste.) but, just as in this case, more exquisite than anything the Moslems ever did afterwards in that country. Though it thus stands singularly alone, the discovery of this palace fills a gap in our history such as no other building occupies up to the present time. And when more, and more correct, details have been procured, it will be well worthy of a monograph, which can hardly be attem])ted now from the scanty materials available. Its greatest interest, however, lies in the fact that all the Persian and Indian