Note 380 — Chapter VII
Reading edition
“It is remarkable for an elegant doorway, with clustered pillars in the European or Gothic style, such as might be found in one of our churches, and therefore differing in character from Saracenic architecture. Over this door is an inscription, purporting that the building was erected by the Sultan Mohammed, son of the Sultan El Melek El Munsoor E’deen Kalaoón E’Salehee. The date on the lintel is 698 A.H. (or A.D. 1299), and on the body of the building, 695. The minaret which stands above this Gothic entrance is remarkable for its lace-like fretwork, which calls to mind the style of the Alhambra and of the Al Cazar at Seville.”
“The pointed arch was evidently employed in Egypt previous to the accession of the Fatimite dynasty, and consequently long before it was known in any part of Europe.”—Wilkinson’s Thebes, vol. ii. pp. 241, 288.