友情提示:如果本网页打开太慢或显示不完整,请尝试鼠标右键“刷新”本网页!
合租小说网 返回本书目录 加入书签 我的书架 我的书签 TXT全本下载 『收藏到我的浏览器』

egypt-第4部分

快捷操作: 按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页 按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页 按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部! 如果本书没有阅读完,想下次继续接着阅读,可使用上方 "收藏到我的浏览器" 功能 和 "加入书签" 功能!



are corridors; astonishingly lofty; sonorous and enveloped in a kind

of half gloom; immediately on entering one experiences a sense of

coolness and pervading peace; they prepare you as it were; and you

begin to be filled with a spirit of devotion; and instinctively to

speak low。 In the narrow street outside there was the clamorous uproar

of an Oriental crowd; cries of sellers; and the noise of humble old…

world trading; men and beasts jostled you; there seemed a scarcity of

air beneath those so numerous overhanging mushrabiyas。 But here

suddenly there is silence; broken only by the vague murmur of prayers

and the sweet songs of birds; there is silence too; and the sense of

open space; in the holy garden enclosed within high walls; and again

in the sanctuary; resplendent in its quiet and restful magnificence。

Few people as a rule frequent the mosques; except of course at the

hours of the five services of the day。 In a few chosen corners;

particularly cool and shady; some greybeards isolate themselves to

read from morning till night the holy books and to ponder the thought

of approaching death: they may be seen there in their white turbans;

with their white beards and grave faces。 And there may be; too; some

few poor homeless outcasts; who are come to seek the hospitality of

Allah; and sleep; careless of the morrow; stretched to their full

length on mats。



The peculiar charm of the gardens of the mosques; which are often very

extensive; is that they are so jealously enclosed within their high

wallscrowned always with stone trefoilswhich completely shut out

the hubbub of the outer world。 Palm…trees; which have grown there for

some hundred years perhaps; rise from the ground; either separately or

in superb clusters; and temper the light of the always hot sun on the

rose…trees and the flowering hibiscus。 There is no noise in the

gardens; any more than in the cloisters; for people walk there in

sandals and with measured tread。 And there are Edens; too; for the

birds; who live and sing therein in complete security; even during the

services; attracted by the little troughs which the imams fill for

their benefit each morning with water from the Nile。



As for the mosque itself it is rarely closed on all sides as are those

in the countries of the more sombre Islam of the north。 Here in Egypt

since there is no real winter and scarcely ever any rainone of the

sides of the mosque is left completely open to the garden; and the

sanctuary is separated from the verdure and the roses only by a simple

colonnade。 Thus the faithful grouped beneath the palm…trees can pray

there equally as well as in the interior of the mosque; since they can

see; between the arches; the holy Mihrab。'*'



'*' The Mihrab is a kind of portico indicating the direction of Mecca。

    It is placed at the end of each mosque; as the altar is in our

    churches; and the faithful are supposed to face it when they pray。



Oh! this sanctuary seen from the silent garden; this sanctuary in

which the pale gold gleams on the old ceiling of cedarwood; and

mosaics of mother…of…pearl shine on the walls as if they were

embroideries of silver that had been hung there。



There is no faience as in the mosques of Turkey or of Iran。 Here it is

the triumph of patient mosaic。 Mother…of…pearl of all colours; all

kinds of marble and of porphyry; cut into myriads of little pieces;

precise and equal; and put together again to form the Arab designs;

which; never borrowing from the human form; nor indeed from the form

of any animal; recall rather those infinitely varied crystals that may

be seen under the microscope in a flake of snow。 It is always the

Mihrab which is decorated with the most elaborate richness; generally

little columns of lapis lazuli; intensely blue; rise in relief from

it; framing mosaics so delicate that they look like brocades of fine

lace。 In the old ceilings of cedarwood; where the singing birds of the

neighbourhood have their nests; the golds mingle with some most

exquisite colourings; which time has taken care to soften and to blend

together。 And here and there very fine and long consoles of sculptured

wood seem to fall; as it were; from the beams and hang upon the walls

like stalactites; and these consoles; too; in past times; have been

carefully coloured and gilded。 As for the columns; always dissimilar;

some of amaranth…coloured marble; others of dark green; others again

of red porphyry; with capitals of every conceivable style; they are

come from far; from the night of the ages; from the religious

struggles of an earlier time and testify to the prodigious past which

this valley of the Nile; narrow as it is; and encompassed by the

desert; has known。 They were formerly perhaps in the temples of the

pagans; or have known the strange faces of the gods of Egypt and of

ancient Greece and Rome; they have been in the churches of the early

Christians; or have seen the statues of tortured martyrs; and the

images of the transfigured Christ; crowned with the Byzantine aureole。

They have been present at battles; at the downfall of kingdoms; at

hecatombs; at sacrileges; and now brought together promiscuously in

these mosques; they behold on the walls of the sanctuary simply the

thousand little designs; ideally pure; of that Islam which wishes that

men when they pray should conceive Allah as immaterial; a Spirit

without form and without feature。



Each one of these mosques has its sainted dead; whose name it bears;

and who sleeps by its side; in an adjoining mortuary kiosk; some

priest rendered admirable by his virtues; or perhaps a khedive of

earlier times; or a soldier; or a martyr。 And the mausoleum; which

communicates with the sanctuary by means of a long passage; sometimes

open; sometimes covered with gratings; is surmounted always by a

special kind of cupola; a very high and curious cupola; which raises

itself into the sky like some gigantic dervish hat。 Above the Arab

town; and even in the sand of the neighbouring desert; these funeral

domes may be seen on every side adjoining the old mosques to which

they belong。 And in the evening; when the light is failing; they

suggest the odd idea that it is the dead man himself; immensely

magnified; who stands there beneath a hat that is become immense。 One

can pray; if one wishes; in this resting…place of the dead saint as

well as in the mosque。 Here indeed it is always more secluded and more

in shadow。 It is more simple; too; at least up to the height of a man:

on a platform of white marble; more or less worn and yellowed by the

touch of pious hands; nothing more than an austere catafalque of

similar marble; ornamented merely with a Cufic inscription。 But if you

raise your eyes to look at the interior of the domethe inside; as it

were; of the strange dervish hatyou will see shining between the

clusters of painted and gilded stalactites a number of windows of

exquisite colouring; little windows that seem to be constellations of

emeralds and rubies and sapphires。 And the birds; you may be sure;

have their nests also in the house of the holy one。 They are wont

indeed to soil the carpets and the mats on which the worshippers

kneel; and their nests are so many blots up there amid the gildings of

the carved cedarwood; but then their song; the symphony that issues

from that aviary; is so sweet to the living who pray and to the dead

who dream。 。 。 。



*****



But yet; when all is said; these mosques seem somehow to be wanting。

They do not wholly satisfy you。 The access to them perhaps is too

easy; and one feels too near to the modern quarters of the town; where

the hotels are full of visitorsso that at any moment; it seems; the

spell may be broken by the entry of a batch of Cook's tourists; armed

with the inevitable /Baedeker/。 Alas! they are the mosques of Cairo;

of poor Cairo; that is invaded and profaned。 The memory turns to those

of Morocco; so jealously guarded; to those of Persia; even to those of

Old Stamboul; where the shroud of Islam envelops you in silence and

gently bows your shoulders as soon as you cross their thresholds。



And yet what pains are being taken to…day to preserve these mosques;

which in olden times were such delightful retreats。 Neglected for

whole centuries; never repaired; notwithstanding the veneration of

their heedless worshippers; the greater part of them were fallen into

ruin; the fine woodwork of their interiors had become worm…eaten;

their cupolas were cracked and their mosaics covered the floor as with

a hail of mother…of…pearl; of porphyry and marble。 It seemed that to

repair all this was a task incapable of fulfilment; it was sheer

folly; people said; to conceive the idea of it。



Nevertheless; for nearly twenty years now an army of workers has been

at the task; sculptors; marble…cutters; mosaicists。 Already certain of

the sanctuaries; the most venerable of them indeed; have been entirely

renovated。 After having re…echoed for some years to the sounds of

hammers and chisels; during the course of these vast renovations; they

are restored now to peace and to prayer; and the birds have

recommenced to build their nests in them。



It will be the glory of the present reign that it has preserved;

before it was too late; all this magnificent legacy of Moslem art。

When the city of 〃The Arabian Nights;〃 which was formerly there; shall

have entirely disappeared; to give place to a vulgar /entrepot/ of

commerce and of pleasure; to which the plutocracy of the whole world

comes every winter to disport itself; so much at least will remain to

bear testimony to the lofty and magnificent thought that inspired the

earlier Arab life。 These mosques will continue to remain into the

distant future; even when men shall have ceased to pray in them; and

the winged guests shall have departed; for the want of those troughs

of water from the Nile; filled for them by the good imams; whose

返回目录 上一页 下一页 回到顶部 0 0
快捷操作: 按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页 按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页 按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
温馨提示: 温看小说的同时发表评论,说出自己的看法和其它小伙伴们分享也不错哦!发表书评还可以获得积分和经验奖励,认真写原创书评 被采纳为精评可以获得大量金币、积分和经验奖励哦!