the slanting roof was uncertain and difficult footing , but they had to keep low in any case , and steadying themselves with their hands they managed to creep over to where the roof met the harem wall , easily wide enough to stand upon ; from the height they could look over the whole ferociously labyrinthine complex : minarets and high towers , galleries and domes , courtyards and cloisters , all standing one atop the other with scarcely any break between them , as though the whole had been almost one single edifice , the work of an architect run mad ; the roofs white and grey , plentifully broken up with skylights and attic windows , but all of these which they could make out were barred .