horseshoe arch

File:Irno033-Ardeshir Castle (cropped).jpg (3rd century CE), in which the springers of the arches are set back]]

The origins of the horseshoe arch are complicated.{{Cite book |last=Arce |first=Ignacio |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LAgxAJNXhFwC&dq=amman+citadel+horseshoe+arch&pg=PA514 |title=Technology in Transition: A.D. 300-650 |publisher=Brill |year=2007 |isbn=978-90-04-16549-6 |editor-last=Lavan |editor-first=Luke |pages=514–515 |language=en |chapter=Umayyad Building Techniques and the Merging of Roman-Byzantine and Partho-Sassanian Traditions: Continuity and Change |editor-last2=Zanini |editor-first2=Enrico |editor-last3=Sarantis |editor-first3=Alexander Constantine}} It appeared in pre-Islamic Sasanian architecture such as the Taq-i Kasra in present-day Iraq and the Palace of Ardashir in southwestern Iran (3rd century CE).{{Cite book |last=Culture |first=Research Centre for Islamic History, Art, and |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3iQXAQAAIAAJ&q=sasanian+horseshoe+arch |title=Cultural Contacts in Building a Universal Civilisation: Islamic Contributions |publisher=O.I.C. Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA) |year=2005 |isbn=978-92-9063-144-6 |pages=256 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last1=Ball |first1=Warwick |title=Archaeology of Afghanistan: From Earliest Times to the Timurid Period: New Edition |last2=Fischer |first2=Klaus |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-4744-5046-1 |editor-last=Allchin |editor-first=Raymond |pages=508 |language=en |chapter=From the Rise of Islam to the Mongol Invasion |editor-last2=Hammond |editor-first2=Norman |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FHsxEAAAQBAJ&dq=Palace+Ardashir+horseshoe+arch&pg=PA508}} It also appeared in Late Roman or Byzantine architecture, as well as in Roman Spain. In Byzantine Syria, the form was used in the Baptistery of Saint Jacob at Nusaybin (4th century CE)Andrew Petersen: "Dictionary of Islamic Architecture", Routledge, 1999, {{ISBN|0-415-21332-0}}, p. 24 and in Qasr Ibn Wardan (564 CE).{{Cite journal|last=Draper|first=Peter|date=2005|title=Islam and the West: The Early Use of the Pointed Arch Revisited |jstor=40033831 |journal=Architectural History|volume=48|pages=1–20|doi=10.1017/S0066622X00003701|s2cid=194947480}}

File:Horseshoe arch in Nisibis Church.jpg

Another possible origin of the horseshoe arch motif is India, where rock-cut temples with mildly incurved horseshoe arches survive from early periods, though these were sculpted in rock rather than constructed, and probably imitate earlier forms in wood. For example, horseshoe arch shapes are found in parts of the Ajanta Caves and Karla Caves dating from around the 1st century BCE to 1st century CE.{{Cite book |last=Allen |first=Margaret Prosser |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vyXxEX5PQH8C&pg=PA44 |title=Ornament in Indian Architecture |publisher=University of Delaware Press |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-87413-399-8 |pages=63–66 |language=en}}

Horseshoe arches made of baked brick have been found in the so-called Tomb of the Brick Arches in Aksum (present-day Ethiopia), built during the Kingdom of Aksum and tentatively dated to the 4th century CE.{{Cite book |last=Munro-Hay |first=Stuart C. |url=http://archive.org/details/aksumafricancivi0000munr |title=Aksum: an African civilisation of late antiquity |publisher=Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press |others=Internet Archive |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-7486-0106-6 |pages=127–130 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last1=Weber |first1=Elizabeth Dolly |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6XMBAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA35 |title=Middle East and Africa: International Dictionary of Historic Places |last2=Lamontagne |first2=Manon |date=2014-03-05 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-25986-1 |editor-last=Ring |editor-first=Trudy |pages=35 |language=en |chapter=Aksum |editor-last2=Watson |editor-first2=Noelle |editor-last3=Schellinger |editor-first3=Paul}} In a 1991 publication, archeologist Stuart C. Munro-Hay suggests that these could be evidence that transmission of architectural ideas took place via routes not previously considered by scholars. He suggests that the brick-built horseshoe arches could have been an Aksumite innovation based on ideas transmitted via trade with India.

Further evidence of their use is also found in early Christian architecture in Byzantine Anatolia and became characteristic of Christian architecture in Cappadocia,{{Cite book |last=Thierry |first=Nicole |url=https://archive.org/details/bat-04-thierry-la-cappadoce-de-l-antiquite-au-moyen-age-2002/BAT-04_Thierry_La%20Cappadoce%20de%20l%27Antiquit%C3%A9%20au%20Moyen%20Age%20%282002%29/page/100/mode/2up |title=La Cappadoce de l'antiquité au moyen âge |date=2002 |publisher=Brepols |isbn=978-2-503-50947-1 |pages=101–102 |language=fr}}{{Cite book |last=Ousterhout |first=Robert G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mll-78X14KYC&dq=cappadocia+pre-islamic+horseshoe+arch&pg=PA73 |title=A Byzantine Settlement in Cappadocia |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-88402-310-4 |pages=73 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Niewöhner |first=Philipp |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lhxpCgAAQBAJ&dq=horseshoe+arch+cappadocia+islamic&pg=PA34 |title=The Emperor's House: Palaces from Augustus to the Age of Absolutism |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |year=2015 |isbn=978-3-11-033176-9 |editor-last=Featherstone |editor-first=Michael |pages=31–34 |language=en |chapter=The late Late Antique origins of Byzantine palace architecture |editor-last2=Spieser |editor-first2=Jean-Michel |editor-last3=Tanman |editor-first3=Gülru |editor-last4=Wulf-Rheidt |editor-first4=Ulrike}} though the origins of this regional feature are sometimes debated.{{efn|In a 1997 study, art historians Thomas F. Mathews and Annie-Christine Mathews Daskalakis argued that this feature of Cappadocian architecture was likely derived later from contemporary architecture in the neighboring Islamic world.{{Cite journal |last1=Mathews |first1=Thomas F. |last2=Mathews Daskalakis |first2=Annie-Christine |date=1997 |title=Islamic-Style Mansions in Byzantine Cappadocia and the Development of the Inverted T-Plan |url=https://online.ucpress.edu/jsah/article/56/3/294/46219/Islamic-Style-Mansions-in-Byzantine-Cappadocia-and |journal=Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians |language=en |volume=56 |issue=3 |pages=294–315 |doi=10.2307/991243 |jstor=991243 |issn=0037-9808|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite book |last=Öztürk |first=Fatma Gül |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gi1WDwAAQBAJ&dq=cappadocia+pre-islamic+horseshoe+arch&pg=PA146 |title=Architecture and Landscape in Medieval Anatolia, 1100-1500 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-4744-1130-1 |editor-last=Blessing |editor-first=Patricia |pages=146–147 |language=en |chapter=Transformation of the 'Sacred' Image of a Byzantine Cappadocian Settlement |editor-last2=Goshgarian |editor-first2=Rachel}} Historians J. Eric Cooper and Michael J. Decker expressed a similar view in which the use of arcades of horseshoe arches on Cappadocian façades was inspired by Islamic architectural models, reflecting the cosmopolitan nature of Cappadocia in this era.{{Cite book |last1=Cooper |first1=Eric |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2ZRZTZ5OZC8C&dq=horseshoe+arch+cappadocia+islamic&pg=PA206 |title=Life and Society in Byzantine Cappadocia |last2=Decker |first2=Michael J. |publisher=Springer |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-137-02964-5 |pages=206–208 |language=en}} Multiple other scholars, such as Nicole Thierry, Robert Ousterhout, and Philipp Niewöhner cite Mathews and Mathews Daskalakis in their discussion of horseshoe arches in the region but they suggest that the evidence points instead to earlier antecedents in Late Antique architecture.}} An early example of its use in Anatolia is found at the Alahan Monastery in present-day southern Turkey, dating most likely from the 5th century CE.{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://archive.org/details/alahanearlychris0000unse/page/n3/mode/2up |title=Alahan: an early Christian monastery in southern Turkey |publisher=Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-88844-073-0 |editor-last=Gough |editor-first=Mary |location=Toronto |pages=21 |language=en}} In Visigothic Spain, horseshoe arches are found, for example, in of the Church of Santa Eulalia de Boveda near Lugo and the Church of Santa Maria de Melque near Toledo.{{Cite book |last=Collins |first=Roger |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Trj8L8rPVRcC&dq=eulalia+church+lugo+arch&pg=PA242 |title=Spain: An Oxford Archaeological Guide |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-19-285300-4 |pages=242 |language=en}} Some tombstones from that period have been found in the north of Spain with horseshoe arches in them, eliciting speculation about a pre-Roman local Celtic tradition.{{cite web |title=Hallan una estela discoidea con arcos de herradura en las murallas de León |url=http://www.soitu.es/soitu/2009/01/30/info/1233300020_674803.html |access-date=21 April 2018 |website=www.soitu.es}}File:20100923 amman60.JPG (early 8th century, partially restored){{Cite web |title=Umayyad Palace at Amman |url=https://www.archnet.org/sites/3545 |access-date=2022-03-20 |website=Archnet}}]]In early Islamic architecture, some horseshoe arches appeared in Umayyad architecture of the 7th to 8th centuries. They are found in the Umayyad Mosque of Damascus, though their horseshoe shape is not very pronounced.{{Cite book |last=Darke |first=Diana |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5-MJEAAAQBAJ&dq=horseshoe+arches+umayyad+damascus&pg=PA129 |title=Stealing from the Saracens: How Islamic Architecture Shaped Europe |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-78738-305-0 |pages=129, 166–167 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Ali |first=Wijdan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rpUuqLPPKK4C&dq=The+Arab+Contribution+to+Islamic+Art%3A+from+the+seventh+to+the+fifteenth+centuries+%22appeared+for+the+first+time+in+Umayyad+architecture%22&pg=PA35 |title=The Arab Contribution to Islamic Art: From the Seventh to the Fifteenth Centuries |publisher=American Univ in Cairo Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-977-424-476-6 |pages=35 |language=en}} They are also found in the Umayyad Palace at the Amman Citadel in present-day Jordan.

According to Giovanni Teresio Rivoira, an archeologist writing in the early 20th century, the pointed variant of the horseshoe arch is of Islamic origin.{{Cite book |last=Ragette |first=Friedrich |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h0dUAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Rivoira+states+that+the+pointed+horseshoe+arch+was+first+used+in+the+mosque+of+Ibn+Tulun%22 |title=Architecture in Lebanon: The Lebanese House During the 18th and 19th Centuries |date=1974 |publisher=American University of Beirut |isbn=978-0-8156-6044-6 |pages=176 |language=en}} According to Rivoira, this type of arch was first used in the Ibn Tulun Mosque, completed in 879.{{Cite book |last=Swelim |first=Tarek |title=Ibn Tulun: His Lost City and Great Mosque |publisher=The American University in Cairo Press |year=2015 |pages=65 |language=en}} Wijdan Ali also describes this as the first systematic use of the pointed variant.{{Cite book |last=Ali |first=Wijdan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rpUuqLPPKK4C&dq=%22horseshoe+arch%22+ibn+tulun&pg=PA62 |title=The Arab Contribution to Islamic Art: From the Seventh to the Fifteenth Centuries |publisher=American University in Cairo Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-977-424-476-6 |pages=62 |language=en}} Horseshoe arches of a slightly pointed form were also used in Aghlabid architecture of the 9th century,{{Rp|page=45}} including the Great Mosque of Kairouan (circa 836) and the Mosque of Ibn Khayrun (866).{{Cite web |title=Qantara - Mosque of the Three Doors |url=https://www.qantara-med.org/public/show_document.php?do_id=405&lang=en |access-date=2022-03-20 |website=www.qantara-med.org}}

It was in Al-Andalus (on the Iberian Peninsula) and western North Africa (the Maghreb) that horseshoe arches developed their characteristic form. Prior to the Muslim invasion of Spain, the Visigoths of the Iberian Peninsula used them in their architecture.{{Cite book |last=Dodds |first=Jerrilynn Denise |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XGRok-MV1gsC |title=Architecture and Ideology in Early Medieval Spain |publisher=Penn State Press |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-271-00671-0 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Marçais |first=Georges |title=L'architecture musulmane d'Occident |publisher=Arts et métiers graphiques |year=1954 |location=Paris |pages=163–164}}{{Cite book |last1=Barrucand |first1=Marianne |title=Moorish architecture in Andalusia |last2=Bednorz |first2=Achim |publisher=Taschen |year=1992 |isbn=3822876348 |pages=43}} Although it is possible that Andalusi architecture borrowed the horseshoe arch from Umayyad Syria, these local precedents make it just as likely that it developed locally instead.{{Rp|43}} The "Moorish" arch, however, was of a slightly different and more sophisticated form than the Visigothic arch, being less flat and more circular.{{Cite book |last=Marçais |first=Georges |title=L'architecture musulmane d'Occident |publisher=Arts et métiers graphiques |year=1954 |location=Paris}}{{Rp|163–164}}{{Cite book |last1=Barrucand |first1=Marianne |title=Moorish architecture in Andalusia |last2=Bednorz |first2=Achim |publisher=Taschen |year=1992 |isbn=3822876348}}{{Rp|43}}File:MA Salón de Abd al-Rahman III (Salón Rico).jpg, Spain, with horseshoe arches typical of the 10th-century Caliphal period]]The Umayyads of Al-Andalus, starting with the Emirate period, used horseshoe arches prominently and ubiquitously, often enclosing them in an alfiz (rectangular frame) to accentuate the effect of its shape.{{Rp|page=45}} This can be seen at a large scale in their major work, the Great Mosque of Córdoba.{{cite web|url=http://archnet.org/library/dictionary/entry.jsp?entry_id%3DDIA0025%26mode%3Dfull |title=Arch |work=ArchNet — Digital Library — Dictionary of Islamic Architecture |access-date=2008-10-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525061153/http://archnet.org/library/dictionary/entry.jsp?entry_id=DIA0025&mode=full |archive-date=2011-05-25 }} Its most distinctive form, however, was consolidated in the 10th-century during the Caliphal period, as seen at Madinat al-Zahra, where the arches consist of about three quarters of a circle and are framed in an alfiz.{{Cite book |last=Bloom |first=Jonathan M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IRHbDwAAQBAJ&dq=Architecture+of+the+Islamic+West%3A+North+Africa+and+the+Iberian+Peninsula%2C+700-1800&pg=PP1 |title=Architecture of the Islamic West: North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, 700-1800 |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2020 |isbn=9780300218701 |location= |pages=57}} The Córdoban style of horseshoe arch spread all over the Caliphate and adjacent areas, and was adopted by the successor Muslim emirates of the peninsula, the taifas, as well as by the architecture of the Maghreb under subsequent dynasties. Its use remained especially consistent in the form of mosque mihrabs.{{Rp|232}}

In the northern Iberian Peninsula, where Asturias and other Christian kingdoms ruled, the use of horseshoe arches continued under the influence of previous Visigothic architecture and of contemporary Islamic architecture. The addition of an alfiz around horseshoe arches was one detail more specifically borrowed from Islamic styles. Starting in the 9th century, some Mozarabs (Christians living under Muslim rule) left al-Andalus and settled in the northern Christian territories,{{efn|The term "Mozarabic" is also applied to the culture of communities outside Al-Andalus, in the northern Christian territories, where Christians from al-Andalus immigrated and resettled, particularly in the 10th century. However, the term reboplación, among other alternatives, can be used to refer to this culture.{{Cite book |last= |first= |title=The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |isbn=9780195309911 |editor-last=M. Bloom |editor-first=Jonathan |location= |pages= |chapter=Mozarabic |editor-last2=S. Blair |editor-first2=Sheila}}}} where they contributed to popularizing this form locally, as exemplified by San Miguel de Escalada (10th century).{{Cite book |last=Mann |first=Janice |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6qQPtVtP904C&dq=mozarabic+horseshoe+arch+architecture&pg=PA52 |title=Romanesque Architecture and Its Sculptural Decoration in Christian Spain, 1000-1120: Exploring Frontiers and Defining Identities |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8020-9324-0 |pages=52 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last1=Murray |first1=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Te2dAAAAQBAJ&dq=mozarabic+horseshoe+arch+architecture&pg=PA471 |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Christian Art and Architecture |last2=Murray |first2=Linda |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-19-968027-6 |editor-last=Jones |editor-first=Tom Devonshire |edition=2nd |pages=471 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Dodds |first=Jerrilynn Denise |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XGRok-MV1gsC&dq=mozarabic+horseshoe+arch+architecture&pg=PA48 |title=Architecture and Ideology in Early Medieval Spain |date=1990 |publisher=Penn State Press |isbn=978-0-271-00671-0 |pages=48 |language=en}} The Mozarabs also incorporated horseshoe arches into their art, such as in illuminated manuscripts.{{Cite book |last=Qôǧman-Appel |first=Qaṭrîn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zfdL5ZXmYQ8C&dq=horseshoe+arch+mozarabic+manuscript&pg=PA52 |title=Jewish Book Art Between Islam and Christianity: The Decoration of Hebrew Bibles in Medieval Spain |publisher=Brill |year=2004 |isbn=978-90-04-13789-9 |pages=118 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Gómez |first=Margarita López |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d_1TEAAAQBAJ&dq=horseshoe+arch+mozarabic+manuscripts&pg=PA172 |title=The Legacy of Muslim Spain |publisher=Brill |year=2021 |isbn=978-90-04-50259-8 |editor-last=Jayyusi |editor-first=Salma Khadra |pages=172 |language=en |chapter=The Mozarabs: Worthy Bearers of Islamic Culture}}

Under the Almoravids (11th-12th centuries), the first pointed horseshoe arches began to appear in the region and then became more widespread during the Almohad period (12th-13th centuries). This pointed horseshoe arch is likely of North African origin.{{Rp|234}} Art historian Georges Marçais attributed it in particular to Ifriqiya (present-day Tunisia), where it was present in earlier Aghlabid and Fatimid architecture.{{Rp|234}}

As Muslim rule retreated in Al-Andalus, the Mudéjar style, which developed from the 12th to the 16th centuries under Spanish Christian rule, continued the tradition of horseshoe arches in the Iberian Peninsula.{{Cite book |last= |first= |title=The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |isbn=9780195309911 |editor-last=M. Bloom |editor-first=Jonathan |location= |pages= |chapter=Mudéjar |editor-last2=S. Blair |editor-first2=Sheila}} Horseshoe arches also continued to be used in the Maghreb, in the architecture of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.{{Cite book |last=Bloom |first=Jonathan M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IRHbDwAAQBAJ&dq=Architecture+of+the+Islamic+West%3A+North+Africa+and+the+Iberian+Peninsula%2C+700-1800&pg=PP1 |title=Architecture of the Islamic West: North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, 700-1800 |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2020 |isbn=9780300218701 |location= |pages=}}

File:Santa eulalia de boveda fachada.jpg|alt=Church of Santa Eulalia de Bóveda near Lugo, Spain (4th-5th century)|Church of Santa Eulalia de Bóveda near Lugo, Spain (4th-5th century),{{Cite journal |last=Kaplan |first=Gregory B. |date=2012 |title=The Mozarabic Horseshoe Arches in the Church of San Román de Moroso (Cantabria, Spain) |url=https://digital.kenyon.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1145&context=perejournal |journal=Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=1–18}} early Christian or Visigothic period

File:Baños de Cerrato 01 basílica by-dpc.jpg|Church of San Juan de Baños in Spain (mid-7th century){{Cite book |last=de Palol |first=Pere |title=Art and Architecture of Spain |publisher=Bulfinch Press |year=1998 |isbn=0821224565 |editor-last=Barral i Altet |editor-first=Xavier |pages=64 |chapter=From Antiquity to the Middle Ages, Christianity and the Visigothic World}}

File:Bosquecillo de columnas (IV) (3076447169).jpg|Prayer hall of the Great Mosque of Córdoba, Spain (late 8th century)

File:Columnes - Gran Mesquita de Kairuan.jpg|Horseshoe arches in the Great Mosque of Kairouan, Tunisia (9th century)

File:Iglesia de San Miguel de Escalada (5024992819).jpg|Church of San Miguel de Escalada near León, Spain (10th century); an example of Mozarabic or Repoblación architecture

File:Arcos de herradura en la iglesia de Santiago de Peñalba.jpg|Arches with alfiz in the Mozarabic Church of Santiago de Peñalba (10th century){{Cite book |last=Conant |first=Kenneth John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qWa5KTPL1LUC&dq=Santiago+de+Penalba+arches&pg=PA95 |title=Carolingian and Romanesque Architecture, 800 to 1200 |date=1993-01-01 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-05298-5 |language=en}}

File:Cordoba mihrab DSCF5436.jpg|Mihrab of the Great Mosque of Córdoba (10th century), with horseshoe arch opening surrounded by a rectangular alfiz

File:Alcazaba of Málaga.jpg|Caliphal-style arches of the Taifa palace (11th century) in the Alcazaba of Málaga, Spain

File:Tin Mal Moschee 02.jpg|Pointed horseshoe arches in the Mosque of Tinmal, Morocco (12th century), typical of the Almohad period and afterwards

File:Iglesia de San Román (Toledo). Interior.jpg|Mudéjar architecture in the Church of San Roman in Toledo, Spain (12th or 13th century){{Cite book |last1=Borrás Gualís |first1=Gonzalo M. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QryGDwAAQBAJ&dq=church+toledo+san+roman&pg=PT302 |title=Mudéjar Art: Islamic Aesthetics in Christian Art |last2=Lavado Paradinas |first2=Pedro |last3=Pleguezuelo Hernández |first3=Alfonso |last4=Pérez Higuera |first4=María Teresa |last5=Mogollón Cano-Cortés |first5=María Pilar |last6=Morales |first6=Alfredo J. |last7=López Guzman |first7=Rafael |last8=Sorroche Cuerva |first8=Miguel Ángel |last9=Stuyck Fernández Arche |first9=Sandra |publisher=Museum With No Frontiers, MWNF (Museum Ohne Grenzen) |year=2019 |isbn=978-3-902782-15-1 |language=en |chapter=IX.1.c Church of San Roman}}

File:Inside Bou Inania Madrasa.jpeg|Bou Inania Madrasa of Fez, Morocco (14th century), from the Marinid period

File:Dar mostafa bacha.jpg|Pointed horseshoe arches in Dar Mustapha Pasha in Algiers, Algeria (1799){{Cite web |title=Dar Mustafa Pasha - Discover Islamic Art - Virtual Museum |url=https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;dz;Mon01;13;en |access-date=2022-03-30 |website=islamicart.museumwnf.org}}

File:Alai Darwaza inscription.jpg gate in the Qutb Minar Complex, Delhi (1311) ]]

Horseshoe arches were also common in Ghurid and Ghaznavid architecture (11th-13th centuries) in Central Asia, though in this region they had sharp pointed apexes, in contrast with those of the western Islamic world. Sometimes they were cusped or given multifoil flourishes.{{Cite book |last= |first= |title=The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |isbn=9780195309911 |editor-last=M. Bloom |editor-first=Jonathan |location= |pages= |chapter=Architecture; V. c. 900–c. 1250; A. Eastern Islamic lands.; 3. Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, c. 1050–c. 1250. |editor-last2=S. Blair |editor-first2=Sheila}} Around the same time or not long afterward, they begin to appear as far east as India, in Indo-Islamic architecture, such as in the Alai Darwaza gatehouse (dating from 1311) at the Qutb Complex in Delhi,{{Cite book |last= |first= |title=The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |isbn=9780195309911 |editor-last=M. Bloom |editor-first=Jonathan |location= |pages= |chapter=Delhi |editor-last2=S. Blair |editor-first2=Sheila}} though they were not a consistent feature in India.

Some pointed arches with a slightly horseshoe shape appear in Ayyubid architecture in Syria.{{Cite book |last= |first= |title=The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |isbn=9780195309911 |editor-last=M. Bloom |editor-first=Jonathan |location= |pages= |chapter=Architecture; V. c. 900–c. 1250; B. Central Islamic lands.; 5. Syria, the Jazira and Iraq. |editor-last2=S. Blair |editor-first2=Sheila}} It appears, exceptionally, in some instances of Mamluk architecture. For example, it appears in some details of the Sultan Qalawun Complex in Cairo, built in 1285.{{Cite book |last= |first= |title=The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |isbn=9780195309911 |editor-last=M. Bloom |editor-first=Jonathan |location= |pages= |chapter=Architecture; V. c. 900–c. 1250; C. Central Islamic lands.; 1. Egypt and Syria. |editor-last2=S. Blair |editor-first2=Sheila}} Andalusi-style horseshoe arches are also found alongside the minaret of the Mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo, probably dating from 13th-century renovations ordered by Sultan Lajin to the older 9th-century mosque.{{Cite book |last=Behrens-Abouseif |first=Doris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=INsmT6zjAl8C&dq=amr+mosque+horseshoe+arch&pg=PA55 |title=Islamic Architecture in Cairo: An Introduction |publisher=Brill |year=1992 |isbn=978-90-04-09626-4 |pages=55 |language=en}}

File:Prague - Jerusalemer Synagoge.jpg in Prague, Czech Republic, an example of Moorish Revival architecture (1906){{Cite web |title=Jerusalem Synagogue |url=https://www.wmf.org/project/jerusalem-synagogue |access-date=2022-03-20 |website=World Monuments Fund |language=en}}]]

In addition to their use across the Islamic world, horseshoe arches became popular in Western countries in Moorish Revival architecture, which became fashionable in the 19th century. They were widely used in Moorish Revival synagogues.{{Cite book |last=Raphael |first=Marc Lee |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OBxXd21AdDsC&dq=horseshoe+arch+moorish+revival&pg=PA73 |title=The Synagogue in America: A Short History |publisher=NYU Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-8147-7582-0 |pages=73 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Wolfe |first=Gerard R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yM8DgAes3y0C&dq=horseshoe+arch+moorish+revival&pg=PA9 |title=The Synagogues of New York's Lower East Side:: A Retrospective and Contemporary View, 2nd Edition |publisher=Fordham Univ Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-8232-5000-4 |pages=9 |language=en}} They were employed in the Neo-Mudéjar style in Spain, another type of Moorish Revival style.{{Cite book |last=Anderson |first=Anne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Ff9DwAAQBAJ&dq=Art+Nouveau+horseshoe+arch&pg=PT490 |title=Art Nouveau Architecture |publisher=The Crowood Press |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-78500-768-2 |language=en}} They are used in some forms of Indo-Saracenic Revival architecture, a 19th-century style associated with the British Raj.

File:Maison Nelissen 09.JPG, Brussels (1905)]]

Exaggerated horseshoe arches were also popular in some forms of Art Nouveau architecture, notably in Brussels.{{cite book |last= Dubois|first= Cécile|date= 2018|title= Brussels Art Nouveau|location= Brussels|publisher= Lannoo|isbn=978-2-39025-045-6|pages=50–51}} Among other examples, this can be seen on the street façade of the Cauchie House.{{Cite book |last=Warren |first=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PGI_DwAAQBAJ&dq=Art+Nouveau+horseshoe+arch&pg=PT51 |title=Art Nouveau and the Classical Tradition |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-4742-9856-8 |pages=33–34 |language=en}}

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Category:Arches and vaults

Category:Islamic architectural elements

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