The finest of these apartments, containing beautiful arabesque x XVII.
The decoration of some of the rooms is gorgeous, the walls being covered in part with mosaics and in part with carved work, while the ceilings are rich in arabesque ornaments, elaborately gilt.
The Marjanieh mosque, not far from the minaret of Mostansir, although its body is modern, has some remains of old and very rich arabesque work on its surface, dating from the 1 4 th century.
The Dar-el-Bey contains numerous rooms beautifully decorated in the Moorish style of the 18th century; and the judgment hall has a domed roof adorned with the delicate arabesque plaster-work known as Nuksh hadida.
Here the traveller ascending from the coast sees the first example of the jebel or highland towns, with their high three-storeyed houses, built of quarried stone, their narrow façades pierced with small windows with whitewashed borders and ornamented with varied arabesque patterns; each dar has the appearance of a small castle complete in itself, and the general effect is rather that of a cluster of separate forts than of a town occupied by a united community.
