that some of its weight is transferred onto the four walls, while the rest is
projected onto the intersecting arches which also receive and counteract
any outward thrust.
13. The dome is a plain plastered vault with six small openings through the
drum and a flat section at its crown but has no central pendant.
14. The dome consists of horizontal courses of bricks with substantial layer of
mortar between them. In other words, it consists of a homogeneous shell
of concrete reinforced with bricks, the whole unit is of 10 inches
thickness.
15. The system of supporting the dome on intersecting arches was something
the Bijapur masons were surprisingly familiar with as this system is
almost unheard of elsewhere, the only other example being on a much
smaller scale, in the sanctuary cupola in the cathedral of Cordova in Spain,
built some six centuries earlier.
Other Provincial Dynasties