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JULY, 1915]
THE DOME IN PERSIA
143
It is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful buildings existing, and I cordially agree with these eloquent words of Mr. Fergusson: "The one thing I was least prepared for was the extreme beauty of the interior of the building. I remember perfectly the effect of the Taj Mahal and other great imperial tombs at Agra and Delhi. . . . But so far as my knowledge extends, the dome of the Rock surpasses them all. There is an elegance of proportion. . . which does not exist in any other building I am acquainted with."
I believe this is the only other instance in Muhammadan architecture where anything of this sort has been discovered, but it might well be found in other buildings were it looked for, since the idea itself, although its existence was not dreamt of sixty years ago, is constantly being found over a wider and wider field. Prof. Phené Spiers states that in the design of Gothic Cathedrals there is reason to believe that proportions based on the equilateral triangle were used in the setting out.24 Babin has shown by numerous examples that a system of triangulation was used in fixing the proportions of Greek temples, the height of the façade, the depth of the entablature, and the spacing of the columns all conforming to it.25 He has since found the same thing in Persian architecture of the Achæmenian period.26 Ram Raz mentions the rules of proportion in his Architecture of the Hindus, which he compiled from the Silpa Sástras, a collection of writings of uncertain age and origin, of which he collected fragments in the Carnatic where he was born. All the proportions laid down by him are, however, simple arithmetical ratios. This was the case, also, with the Bhavnagar House-Front at the Delhi Exibition of 1903, which was specially made by the head carpenter of the State according to the traditional rules of bis craft. (Sir George Watt, Indian Art at Delhi, pp. 124-5 and plate 28). It appears, therefore, that in India less subtle ratios obtained.
That this idea is extremely ancient cannot be denied, since various relationships of this sort are found in the Great Pyramid, where, amongst other things, the height bears to the circumference of the base the same relationship as the diameter of a circle bears to its circumference. That literature contains no reference to this remarkable system goes for nothing, as craft secrets of this sort were, no doubt, only imparted under vows of secrecy. Under a scheme of this sort, whereby the size of every part is related to every other part in some definite proportion, as pointed out above, a building instead of being a collection of odd notes, became a harmonious chord in stone, a sort of living crystal; and after all it really is not strange that harmonies of this sort should appeal to us through our sight, just as chords in music appeal to us through our hearing. Some of the ratios involved above, such as the square root of two, and especially that which the diameter of a circle bears to its circulaterence, which enters into the equation of movement of everything in space, nay further, into the equation of movement of the very electrons of the atom itself, are fundamentals in time and space, they go right down to the very basis of our own nature and of the physical universe in which we live and move and have our being, and may well appeal to us sub-consciously.
The Masjid-i-Jama at Verâmin is another example of a great building of the golden age of Persian architecture. According to an inscription over the main entrance it was built A. H. 722 (1322) by Sultan Abu Said, the son and successor of Khudâbunda. The form of the dome is less pointed than that at Sultânieh (Plate II, E.) and recalls somewhat those of Sarvistân in outline. The interior arrangement is as follows: The inner chamber,
24 Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th edition, art. Architecture, II, p. 370...
25 Babin (C.), Note sur l'emploi des triangles dans la mise en proportion des monuments grecs: Revue archéologique, IIIe série, tome XVI, pp. 82-106.
26 Note sur la métrologie et les proportions dans les monuments achéménides de la Perse: Revue archéologique, IIIe série, tome XVII, pp. 347-79.
