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
Upon the southern side of the platform, court G is divided from the hall
3 by three chambers (33, 34, and 35) which, like the corresponding
chambers north of the hall, are ruined and filled with débris. They
appear to have had no communication with the hall. On the south side a
door leads from court G into corridor 43, 2·60 metres wide, which
corresponds with the northern corridor (20). The western end of court G
is occupied by a lîwân group and kitchen (29-32), the latter opening
into court H. Court H, 15 metres from east to west, differs, as has been
said, from its counterpart court D, in that it is furnished with a
shallow lîwân group at its western end. These rooms (36, 37 and 38) are
much ruined, but it appeared to me that there was no communication with
court I. Court I, 14·20 metres from east to west, and court J, 17·80
metres from east to west, with the lîwân group and kitchen between them,
correspond exactly in their arrangement with courts E and F. I do not
doubt that all the rooms above described were covered by barrel vaults,
but there is no wall on the upper level that stands much more than a
metre high, and therefore no vault is preserved.
In the central part of the palace the upper level is prolonged to the
western end of court B, but in the wings it ends with courts F and J.
Thus it is that the rooms and courts which flank the western end of
court B are upon the lower level. They form two complete units, one on
either side. The northern unit is composed of courts K and L and rooms
44 to 50. On the east side of court K lies a shallow lîwân group (48,
49, 50), the lîwân being 3·25 metres deep. On the west side the lîwân
group differs somewhat from those which have been already described. A
narrow antechamber, 2·40 metres deep, is interposed between the lîwân
with its side chambers (44, 45, 46) and the court. A wide archway,
corresponding with the arch of the lîwân, and two doors, corresponding
with the doors of the side chambers, open into court K, but the width of
the arch and doors of the antechamber is slightly greater than the width
of the arch and doors of the lîwân and its side chambers. The door of 46
is 1·05 metres wide and stands 1·85 metres from the south wall; the
corresponding door of the antechamber is 1·70 metres wide and stands
1·30 metres from the south wall. The arch of the lîwân has a width of
5·20 metres; the corresponding arch of the antechamber is 5·80 metres
wide. Neither here nor in any other court where the antechamber occurs
is it possible to determine the exact relation between the vault of the
antechamber and the vault of the lîwân, but the fact that the lîwân arch
seems to have been narrower than the antechamber arch (it is only in
court K that the measurements can be taken with anything approaching to
accuracy) leads me to suppose that the vault of the lîwân cannot have
been carried through to the court, as at Ukhaiḍir. In that case the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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