The Palace and Park: Its Natural History, and Its Portrait Gallery, Together with a Description of the Pompeian CourtLatham, R. G. (Robert Gordon)
History
The Palace and Park: Its Natural History, and Its Portrait Gallery, Together with a Description of the Pompeian Court
Latham, R. G. (Robert Gordon)
Crystal Palace (Sydenham, London, England)
Through this brilliant court, the visitor will proceed or linger as his
spirit directs. There are no statues to examine, for the religion of the
Moors forbade the representation of living objects; in truth, the
exquisitely wrought tracery on every side, upon which the Moorish mind
was thus forced to concentrate all its artistic power and skill, is in
itself sufficient exclusively to arrest and to enchain the attention. A
curious infringement, however, of the Mahommedan law just now mentioned,
which proscribes the representation of natural objects, is observable in
the lions supporting the fountain, and in three paintings, which occupy
a portion of the original ceilings in the Tribunal of Justice and the
two alcoves adjoining. It is also to be remarked that, although the
followers of Mahommed scrupulously avoid stepping upon a piece of paper,
lest the name of God should be written thereon, yet that name is found
repeatedly upon the floor of the same tribunal. However, during the
State visit of the Princes of Oude to the Crystal Palace in 1858, while
they were inspecting this Court it was noticed that they, and many of
their attendants, avoided as much as possible stepping upon the
inscribed pavement. From these circumstances it would seem that the
Mahommedans of the West were more lax in their observances than their
brethren of the East, having in all probability imbibed some of the
ideas and feelings of the Spanish Christians with whom they came in
contact.
Passing through the archway opposite to that at which we entered, we
find ourselves in a vestibule which in the Alhambra itself leads from
the Court of Lions to the Tribunal of Justice. This is, however, only a
portion of the original passage. The arches opening from the central to
the right and left divisions of the vestibule are of the size of the
originals, the patterns on the Avails and ceilings being taken from
other portions of the Alhambra. It should also be remembered that the
different apartments here brought together do not stand in the same
relation to each other as in the Moorish Palace, the object of the
architect in the Crystal Palace being to give the best examples of this
style of architecture in the smallest possible space.
The visitor may now proceed through the left-hand arch into the division
next the Roman Court. On the right of this division he will find a small
room devoted to models, and specimens of the original casts of ornaments
of the Alhambra, brought by Mr. Owen Jones from Spain, from which this
Court has been constructed. Returning to the central division, he sees
on his left the Hall of the Abencerrages, with its beautiful stalactite
roof, already spoken of. All the Courts on this side of the building, up
to this point, were erected under the superintendence of Mr. Owen Jones.
Proceeding onward, we quit the Alhambra, and emerge into the north
transept.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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