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                              THE MENTOR

                "A Wise and Faithful Guide and Friend"

    Vol. I                                                       No. 33




                   BEAUTIFUL BUILDINGS of the WORLD

    TAJ MAHAL                                       SALISBURY CATHEDRAL

    THE ALHAMBRA           [Illustration]           CHÂTEAU de CHAMBORD

    AMIENS CATHEDRAL                                NEW YORK CITY HALL

                          _By CLARENCE WARD_
             _Professor of Architecture, Rutgers College_


Beauty in architecture is as difficult to define as beauty in nature.
No single factor renders a building beautiful. Size and proportion,
style and decoration, age and setting, all enter into account. And
moreover there is the power a building possesses to appeal to the
ideals of the beholder, to his mind as well as to his sight and touch.
Even when judged from this broad viewpoint, the number of beautiful
buildings in the world is legion. It would be impossible to point to
anyone as the finest, or even to select a dozen without leaving a dozen
more that were equally beautiful. Every age, and every nation, has left
to us some crowning achievements of the builder's art. The following
are therefore merely selections from this storehouse, illustrating to
some degree the wealth of architectural treasures that is our heritage.

Few if any buildings in the world have been the subject of such praise
as that bestowed upon the Taj Mahal ("Gem of Buildings"). Travelers,
painters, authors, and poets have all sought to express in word or
color the indefinable charm of this gem of Indian art. Built at Agra,
in India, by the great mogul of Delhi, Shah Jahan, as a tomb for his
favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, the Taj is a veritable translation into
stone of human remembrance and affection. It was begun in 1632, and
was completed in twenty-two years. The material of which it is built
is pure white marble, and inlaid in its walls are jaspers, agates, and
other stones in marvelous designs. But it is perhaps the dome that
gives the greatest beauty to this tomb. Of typical Eastern shape, it
rises a mass of white against the deep blue of the Indian sky, or
shines like silver in the radiance of the Indian moon.

  [Illustration: THE TAJ MAHAL

_The approach through the splendid gardens seen in the foreground is
bordered by dark cypress trees, which contrast admirably with the color
of the marble domes beyond._]


                    THE WORLD'S MOST BEAUTIFUL TOMB

It cannot be denied that the Taj Mahal (tahzh mah-hahl´) owes much
of its beauty to its setting. Not merely has it the contrast of the
brilliant sky above, but also the deep green of the gardens at its
feet, and more than this the four tall, graceful minarets standing
like sentinels at the corners of the marble terrace on which the tomb
is placed. The interior is scarcely less impressive than this outside
view. Its subdued light serves only to show more clearly the beauty
of the garlands of red and blue and green inlaid along its walls as
never-withering memorials of the queen who sleeps beneath the lofty
dome.

It is perhaps beside her tomb that the traveler sees a vision of the
proud and mighty Jahan, cruel in many ways, but steadfast in his love,
building this glorious resting place for his fair consort, whom he
called by the familiar name of Taj. One may see even farther still and
picture to himself this once proud ruler, bereft of all his power and
even of his throne, looking out from his chamber window toward this
same Taj Mahal. Perhaps its wondrous dome gleamed in the moonlight on
that last night before he came to rest beneath its shades as it gleams
today to the enraptured gaze of thousands who take the pilgrimage to
Agra to see this wonder of the Eastern world.


                    THE PALACE OF THE MOORISH KINGS

It is not such a step as it may seem from the Taj Mahal to the Alhambra
(al-ham'-bra). Both are oriental. Both are the products of Mohammedan
art, and mark in a way its Eastern and its Western expressions. As
early as the eighth century of our era the Moors of northern Africa
crossed to Spain and made the Iberian peninsula a Moorish califate
or kingdom. Its capital and last stronghold was Granada. And here on
a lofty hill, overlooking the city, King or Calif Al Hamar began the
mighty fortress of the Alhambra