The priests were prepared for our visit, and were waiting at the door to receive us. They at once admitted us to the temple, first begging us to remove our shoes. This action is to be regarded as mere politeness, not as "bowing down in the house of Rimmon;" for it is customary to remove the shoes in Turkey, even when only entering a room.[47]
The body of the temple consists of twin naves, divided longitudinally by a pointed arcade, and roofed with two pointed barrel vaults. The general effect of the architecture is very similar to that of a rude early thirteenth-century church in the mountain districts of England. The naves lie due east and west; and possibly this Orientation was intentional, for certain traces of sun worship do survive in the Yezidi creed. But more probably the lines of the building were dictated by the nature of the site, for the longer axis would naturally run parallel with stream and hill. Moreover any significance that might be attached to the arrangement is altogether discounted by the fact that the sanctuary is placed, not at the eastern end, but in the centre of the northern side. This is a plan which is frequently followed in the more easterly Christian churches; and which indicates that the builders adopted as their model, not the Roman basilica, but the Persian Audience Hall.
From the south-west. The figures are those of Rabban Werda and others of our suite.
The floor of the southern nave is three steps lower than that of the northern; and at its western end is a square tank of running water, sunk below the level of the floor. Ceremonial ablutions have a prominent place in the ritual of Yezidi worship. There is a second tiny tank in the quadrangle: and a third (evidently fed by the overflow of the tank in the nave) just under the south-western angle of the temple, on the level of the lower terrace. A dwarf wall between the arcade pillars fences off the central bays of the upper nave, thus enclosing a sort of presbytery in front of the opening to the sanctuary.
At the eastern end we turned to the left through a door in the northern wall, and entered the square chamber under the smaller and more easterly of the two conical spires. From this we passed back into the sanctuary itself; a larger square chamber, situated under the larger spire, and thus, placed practically in the centre of the northern nave wall.[48] A low doorway, closed with an iron grille, opens from the nave into this sanctuary; and immediately behind the opening stands a sort of ark, rather smaller than the shrine of St. Alban, and completely shrouded in red drapery. We were led up to it, but bidden not to touch it: so we stood round solemnly, and gazed.