Mosque in Donnaik

Though sometimes tentatively identified as a mosque and idgah this domed structure and its curious walled "appendix" to the northwest cannot have served as a place of prayer for Muslims. Oriented northwards , this building may have functioned as some sort of reception hall. Furthermore, it ap¬pears to have been erected on the dismantled remains of a typical palace structure.

The bays are open on the north, where a flight of steps is centrally posi¬tioned. Slightly raised above floor level on the east and west are three small rectangular chambers created by arched openings. Against the south wall similar arches frame shallow recesses. Proj-ecting northwards from the northeast and north¬west corners of the hall are two walls, each provided with a deeply recessed niche facing inwards. Both these walls, and also the arched openings on the north side of the hall, seem to be built upon the carved stone basement of an earlier (dismantled) palace structure. This palace must have had an open courtyard facing north, surrounded on three sides by raised areas defined by basements, the stone mouldings and friezes of which are still intact, though damaged. This typical palace configuration explains the unusual flanking side walls. Two large stones are set within the courtyard to the north. On the central (north-south) aisle the domes have eight ribs between which are enlarged petals converging on a lotus medallion.