Bk. VIII. Ch. IX. MOSQUE AT HEBRON. 413 those mentioned, within the enclosure of the mosque at Hebron. If this was a work of the Crusaders it must have been built before 1187, since the Christians never had access to the place after their defeat at Tiberias. If not erected by them, we are forced to assume that the Moslems, after recovering possession of the sepulchres of the Patriarchs, employed some Christian renegades or slaves to erect a mosque on the spot, in their own style of architecture. This is, however, by no means improbable, since it is the only Christian church (if it be one) in Palestine which has no apse, though there would have been no difficulty in intro- ducing three apses in the same manner as at Abii Gosh (Woodcut No. 837), had it been so desii'ed. It should also be remarked that the three aisles point southward towards Mecca, and that, except in style, it has all the aj*- pearance of a mosque. Both Christian and 84i. Plan of Mosque at Hebron. Mahomedan tradition are silent as to its erec- ' ° ""' , - . . - , . The Gothic portion Is shaded Mack, tion, so that the determination or the question the Jewish hatched, and the Muiium- ' ^ edau outlined. umst depend on a more careful examination than has yet been possible. Whichever way it may be decided, it is a curious question. It is either a Christian building, without the arrangement elsewhere universally indispensable, or it is a Moslem mosque in a Christian style of architecture. If the former, the com- plete development of the Italian ^Jointed style of architecture in the East must be fixed at not less than half a century anterior to that in the West.^ 1 For further particulars regarding this building, see " The Holy Sejiulchre and the Temple at Jerusalem, by the Author, Appendix J.
