ture is the elaborate surface decoration in which
geometrical designs, letters, &c., are interwoven with consummate skill,
but in which no figures of animals are ever introduced, the
representation of life being strictly forbidden by the Koran.

Although Arabia was the birthplace of the founder of Islam, there are
few Saracenic buildings of importance in it. The so-called great Mosque
at Mecca, which has been a goal of pilgrimage from all points of the
Mahommedan world for so many centuries, has been since its foundation
completely rebuilt, not assuming its present form until the middle of
the 16th century. It has little that can be called architectural style
about it, consisting as it does of an arcaded enclosure in the centre of
which is the Kaaba, a heathen shrine that existed long before the time
of Mohammed, the whole surrounded by a wall with several gateways and
minarets.

[Illustration: Section of Mosque el Aksah at Jerusalem]

In Jerusalem various characteristic buildings bear witness to the
prevalence of the Mahommedan faith in the Holy City of the Christians,
including the 7th century Mosque el Aksah, originally a Christian church
transformed into what it now is by Calif Omar, and the 8th century
shrine erroneously named after him, also known as the Dome of the Rock,
both of which rise from the site of the Jewish Temple. The latter is of
octagonal plan, and, though its details are of a somewhat hybrid
character, many of the columns having been filched from other buildings,
whilst the decorations of the great dome and of the exterior were added
in the 16th century, is of very singular charm on account of the
symmetry of its proportions and the richness of its colouring, the walls
being cased in Persian tiles and the windows filled with stained glass.

It appears to have been in Egypt that Saracenic architecture, strictly
so-called, first attained to the structural dignity and appropriateness
of ornamentation that were to distinguish it in Persia, Spain, and
India. In the 7th century Mosque of Amru and that of Ibn Touloun, dating
from the 9th century, both at Cairo, the earlier phases of the style can
be studied, whilst the later development is illustrated in the same city
by the 13th century Mosque of Kalaoon, the 14th century Mosque of Sultan
Hassan, that has the rare feature in a Mahommedan building of a
cruciform plan, the contemporaneous Mosque of Sultin Barkook, and the
small 15th century Mosque of Kai