Dome

A domed tomb; Near the Northern Quarries [East bank of Aswan] is a large Muslim cemetery containing some 60 tombs of the 11th-12th century. These range from small domed cubes to more elaborate structures, such as the mausoleum of the Sab'a wa Sab'in Wali ('77 governors'; destroyed. 1901), which had nine domes and a minaret. The tombs are remarkable for the variety of squinches and pendentives used in the zone of transition and show the development of vernacular traditions in medieval provincial Egypt. The tombs contained some 600 dated funerary stelae (Cairo, Museum of Islamic Art), which provide evidence for the development of Arabic epigraphy from the 8th to the 12th century; however, since they were hastily removed after a heavy rainstorm in 1887, they can no longer provide dates for the structures in which they were found. Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.groveart.com/ (accessed 1/19/2008)