Bk. I. Ch. II. SYRIA AND EGYPT. 513 mosque of Ibn Touloun, but it is particularly ungraceful and clumsy. The niiriaret in that of Amrou was probably a later addition. Those of the Azhar, which are probably of the date of that mosque, al- most equal the one repre- sented in the woodcut; but it is only here that tiiey seem to have ac- quired that elegance and completeness which ren- der them ])erhaps the most beautiful form of tower architecture in the world. Our prejudices are of course with the spires of our Gothic churches, and the In- dians erected some noble towers ; but, taken alto- gether, it is doubtful if anything of its class ever surpassed the beauty and elegance of the minarets attached to the mosques during this and the two or three subsequent centuries. 963. Plan of Mosque and Tombs of Sultan Barkook. (From Coste.) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in. m jlVW!V^ftfiftAfl/A^yw^;ft^fJ^rVlfv^ilV ■i^J^.^^JVt^^r^^^ fHjj^ □DD ODD Don una ana D§a oiio nga oga aip ZSSmsz^i^MSmSP/A 964. Section of Mosque of Barkook. (From Costa's " Architecture Arabe.") The mosque of Kaloun and the hospital attached to it (a.d. 1284) are both noble buildings, full of the most elegant details, and not vol,. II. — 33
