History of mediæval art . areFig. 87),—much in thesame manner as thehypostyle hall was con-nected with the peri-style court of the Egyp-tian temple. But, incontrast to both theancient Egyptian andearly Christian courts,the side of the en-closure formed by thehall was not empha-sized upon the interiorfagade. The ranges ofcolumns were extend-ed without alterationaround all four sides of the court, which thus differed from the Christian atrium in nothaving the character of a vestibule. The area required for thehall, or mihrab, was provided in the simplest possible manner bymultiplying the colonna
History of mediæval art . areFig. 87),—much in thesame manner as thehypostyle hall was con-nected with the peri-style court of the Egyp-tian temple. But, incontrast to both theancient Egyptian andearly Christian courts,the side of the en-closure formed by thehall was not empha-sized upon the interiorfagade. The ranges ofcolumns were extend-ed without alterationaround all four sides of the court, which thus differed from the Christian atrium in nothaving the character of a vestibule. The area required for thehall, or mihrab, was provided in the simplest possible manner bymultiplying the colonnades on the side of the court chosen forthe purpose. It is to be observed that in these edifices the chiefaxis of the mihrab was never distinguished by greater dimensions,as was the clerestory of the Christian basilicas, or the middleaisle of increased height introduced into the hypostyle hall ofthe more important Egyptian temples, such, for instance, as thatat Karnak. This is particularly remarkable, as the Moslems, who. Fig. 87.—Plan of the Mosque of Amru, Cairo. 164 MOHAMMEDAN ART. worship with their faces towards Mecca, were even more strict-ly obliged than were the Pagans or the Christians to turn in agiven direction while engaged in prayer, and as the orientationof sacred edifices to the cardinal points of the compass had beenpreviously observed in almost all the temples and churches of theEast. But the Arabians, while maintaining the general arrange-ment of their plan, paid little attention to the orientation of theentire building, indicating the direction in which the worshipperswere to turn for prayer by the introduction of a special chapel(kiblah), which consequently stood in no organic connection withthe main lines of the edifice, often adjoining some unimportantcorner of the mihrab. The position of the pulpit (mimbar), theseat of the caliph or of his representative (maksura), and the tombsof the founders or patrons of the mosque, were similarly introducedwithout
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