STALACTITE WORK, in architecture, one of the most general characteristics of all of the Mohammedan styles, con sisting of a series of little niches, bracketed out one above the other, or of projecting prismatic forms in rows and tiers, con nected at their upper ends by miniature arches: Its infinite varieties may be classified into three groups, the first consisting of those basically niche-shaped, in which the concave curve is the most important feature; the second group includes those in which the vertical edges between the niches are the most im portant feature, being set at all sorts of angles and having generally prismatic forms; the last group consists of elaborately intersect ing, miniature arches. The first two groups occur commonly in Syrian, Moorish and Turkish work and in their simpler forms, in Persia; the last group is typically Persian and is found also in Mogul work in India.
Stalactites are of comparatively late development in Muslim art, the earliest buildings in Syria, Egypt and north Africa show ing no traces of them. They seem to appear suddenly all over the Muslim world toward the beginning of the I2th century.
Thus simple forms are found in the mosque at Ani in Armenia. built between 1072-1110, and they are common in Algiers and Sicily during the course of the century, as in the gate at Chella (1118-84), and in the building known as La Ziza at Palermo (I154). In Egypt the stalactite appears in panels flanking the main entrance of the El Akmar mosque at Cairo (1125-5o). They reached their highest development in the 14th and 15th centuries, becoming the normal decoration for the heads of door niches and the bracketing under cornices and minaret galleries. The richest examples of the prismatic type are to be found in Moorish work in Spain, especially in the intricate wood and plaster ornament of such palaces as the 14th and 15th century Alhambra in Granada and the 14th century Alcazar at Seville. In Turkey, a peculiar type of faceted crystal shape is found and the form became the most common capital decoration.