When describing al-madrasā an-Nūrīyyā, I mentioned the curious vault over its portal. It consists of a pair of cross vaults, appearing in the elevation as a pair of windows over the flat-pointed arch that bridges the bay and supports their middle. Without this arch, the springing point common to both would hang in the air. The construction is a conscious attempt to produce a “suspended” vault.
What the master of an-Nūrīyyā attempted, the master of al-ʿĀdilīyyā has achieved. The springing point of the pair of vaults in the vertical axis of the façade is, indeed, suspended from above, as the design shows. The building was begun immediately after the completion of an-Nūrīyyā in 1171-1172 CE but was finished only in 1222-1223, after two interruptions. Apparently, this vault belongs to the phase of the completion, but since the plan of the two madrasas is identical, the second architect may simply have carried out what the first planned.
The façade of al-ʿĀdilīyyā is the classical example of ʾAyyūbīd architecture at Damascus.
____________
Ernst Herzfeld. Damascus, Studies in Architecture I. Ars islamica v. 9, University of Michigan Press, 1942.
Ernst Herzfeld. Damascus, Studies in Architecture III. Ars Islamica XI-XII 1946 (p. 1-71).
No comments:
Post a Comment