1314. This building (Fig. 188) has been measured, drawn, and fully
illustrated in an elaborate monograph by our countryman Owen Jones,
and has become popularly known by the beautiful reproduction of
portions of it which he executed at the Crystal Palace, and of which
he wrote an admirable description in his 'Guide-book to the Alhambra
Court.' The Mohammedan architecture of Spain is here to be seen at
its best; most of its features are those of Arab art, but with a
distinguishing character (Fig. 193).

[Illustration: FIG. 193.--DOORWAY IN THE ALHAMBRA.]

Two other well-known examples are, the Giralda[38] at Seville, and
the Mosque at Cordova. The Giralda is a square tower, in fact a
minaret on a magnificent scale, divided into panels and richly
decorated, and shows a masculine though beautiful treatment wholly
different from that of the minarets in Cairo. The well-known Mosque at
Cordova is of the simplest sort of plan, but of very great extent, and
contains no less than nineteen parallel avenues separated from one
another by arcades at two heights springing from 850 columns. The
Kibla in this mosque is a picturesque domed structure higher than the
rest of the building. The columns employed throughout are antique ones
from other buildings, but the whole effect of the structure, which
abounds with curiously cusped arches and coloured decoration, is
described as most picturesque and fantastic.

_Persia and India._

Turning eastwards, we find in Turkey, as has been said, a close
adherence to the forms of Byzantine architecture. In Persia, where the
people are now fire-worshippers, the Mohammedan buildings are mostly
ruined, and probably many have disappeared, but enough remains to show
that mosques and palaces of great grandeur were built. Lofty doorways
are a somewhat distinctive feature of Persian buildings of this style;
and the use of coloured tiles of singular beauty for linings to the
walls, in the heads of these great portals, and in other situations to
which such decoration is appropriate, is very common: these
decorations afford opportunity for the Persian instinct for colour,
probably the truest in the whole world, to make itself seen.

In India the wealth of material is such that an almost unlimited
series of fine buildings could be brought forward, were space and
illustrations available. A large part of that vast country became
Mohammedan, and in the buildings erected for mosques and tombs a
complete