Palace and Mosque at Ukhaidir: A Study in Early Mohammadan ArchitectureBell, Gertrude Lowthian
History
Palace and Mosque at Ukhaidir: A Study in Early Mohammadan Architecture
Bell, Gertrude Lowthian
Iraq -- Antiquities; Mosques; Ukheidar
the southern end, through a narrow vaulted way, on to the roof of No.
47.
The outer stair from the yard is a later addition (Plate 40, Fig. 1).
The round tower at the northern end of the wall has been cut away to
receive it, and it was supported further by four rectangular piers, two
on either side of the tower, which were built up against the wall. These
piers were not bonded into the wall, and the northernmost has entirely
fallen away, but it can still be traced on the face of the masonry. The
communication with the first floor was effected, as has been mentioned,
by means of a door at the north-east angle of the ramp.
Room 106 occupies the vaulted space at the west end of 47 and has a door
to the south opening on to the roof of 45. To the west a door leads into
corridor 102, which lies above the eastern wing of corridor 28 (Plate
22, Fig. 2). It has a door to the south opening on to the roof, and is
lighted by narrow windows in the south wall. West of 102 was the small
room, 101, now ruined, and beyond it rooms 100 and 99 above the west
wing of corridor 28. The height of these rooms on the first floor is
only 3·55 metres to the top of the vault. No. 100 communicates by a door
and steps with the stair leading up from the south-west corner of the
great hall, and so with the first floor chambers of the west wing. These
can be approached also from the west door of room 89, which opens into
the passage room No. 92. In the south wall of 92 there is first a door
and steps which lead down to No. 96, secondly a door giving access to
the roof of the east riwâq of the mosque, and further west a narrow
window which overlooks the ṣaḥn. There are two similar windows in the
south wall of 91 and a door on to the roof of the west riwâq of the
mosque. (The windows and the door of the west riwâq can be seen in Plate
23, Fig. 1.) At the western end of 91 a window opens on to the palace
yard. Rooms 96, 97, and 98 lie above 8, 9, and 10. They are lighted by
narrow windows in the west wall, which can be seen in Plate 19, Fig. 1.
They communicate with each other by doors covered by ovoid arches set
back from the jambs and breaking into the curve of the vault, and each
has access through an arched opening in the east wall to a small room
·85 metre wide, lying at a higher level. The northernmost of these three
small rooms lies under the stair leading from No. 89 to the second
floor, and its vault slopes down at the northern end in order to leave
space for the stair. No. 98 opens by a door on to the staircase from the
great hall. At the west end of the staircase there is a door leading
out on to the roof of the ḥaram, and above it is placed a window. Both
door and window can be seen in Plate 19, Fig. 1. Opposite to this door
and window there is a large opening in the west wall of the great hall,
doubtless in order to secure a little additional light in that dark
edifice.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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