Horseshoe arch - wikipedia Horseshoe arch Santa Eulalia de Bóveda, Lugo. - Façade ( 2nd Century ) Horseshoe arch Church of San Juan de Baños in Spain, Visigothic architecture 7th century. Horseshoe arches inside the Mosque of Uqba, in Kairouan, Tunisia The horseshoe arch ( Spanish : arco de herradura / ˈarko de eraˈduɾa / ), also called the Moorish arch and the keyhole arch, is the emblematic arch of Moorish architecture. Horseshoe arches can take rounded, pointed or lobed form. Horseshoe arches are known from pre-Islamic Syria, where the form was used in the fourth century CE in the Baptistery of Mar Ya'qub ( St. Jacob ) at Nisibin. However, it was in Spain and North Africa ( where it went from Spain ) that horseshoe arches developed their characteristic form. Prior to the Muslim invasion of Spain, the Visigoths used them as one of their main architectural features, which may come from at least the Roman period. Some tombstones from that period have been found in the north of Spain with horseshoe arches in them, with speculation about a pre-Roman local Celtic tradition. Also, the arch of the Church of Santa Eulalia de Boveda -- part of a previous Roman temple -- in Lugo, points in that direction. The Visigothic form was adopted and developed by the Umayyads, who accentuated the curvature of the horseshoe and added the alternating colours to accentuate the effect of its shape. This can be seen at a large scale in their major work, the Great Mosque of Córdoba. This style of horseshoe arch then 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 Almoravid dynasty, Almohad Caliphate, and the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, although also lobed, round, pointed and multifoil arches were also used at that time. The Mozarabs also adopted this style of arch into their architecture and illuminated manuscripts. Horseshoe arches were also used in the Great Mosque of Kairouan ( the earliest surviving part being the mihrab of 862 - 863 ), the Mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo ( completed 879 ), and in a slightly pointed form, in the Mosque of Muhammad ibn Khairun, Tunisia. Mudéjar style, developed from the 12th to the 17th centuries, continued the tradition of horseshoe arches in the Iberian Peninsula which had been started in the 7th century by the Visigoths. In addition to their use across the Islamic world, horseshoe arches became popular in Western countries at the time of the Moorish Revival. They were widely used in Moorish revival synagogues. Horseshoe arches first appeared in Indo - Islamic architecture in 1311 in the Alai Darwaza gatehouse at the Qutb Complex in Delhi, though they were not a consistent feature in India. They are used in some forms of Indo - Saracenic Revival architecture, a 19th - century style associated with the British Raj. References Wikimedia Commons has media related to Horseshoe arches. Jump up ^ Andrew Petersen : `` Dictionary of Islamic Architecture '', Routledge, 1999, ISBN 0 - 415 - 21332 - 0, p. 24 Jump up ^ http://www.soitu.es/soitu/2009/01/30/info/1233300020_674803.html ^ Jump up to : `` Archived copy ''. Archived from the original on 2011 - 05 - 25. Retrieved 2008 - 10 - 30. Jump up ^ Richard Ettinghausen, Oleg Grabar and Marilyn Jenkins - Madina, pp. 32 - 33, 2001, Islamic Art and Architecture : 650 - 1250, Yale University Press, ISBN 0 - 300 - 08869 - 8 Islamic architecture categories Arabic architecture Berber architecture Iranian architecture Islamic architecture Mughal architecture Ottoman architecture styles Abbasid Anatolia Beyliks Ayyubid Azeri Bengali Chinese Fatimid Indo - Islamic Indonesian / Malaysian Isfahani Khorasani Mamluk Modern Moorish Moroccan Mudéjar Mughal Ottoman Pakistani Razi Seljuk Somali Sudano - Sahelian Tatar Timurid Umayyad Vernacular Persian Yemenite elements structural Ablaq Chahartaq Chhajja Hasht - Bihisht Hypostyle Iwan Jharokha Kucheh Liwan Mashrabiya Moroccan riad Qadad Riwaq Sahn Semi-dome Shabestan Squinch Tadelakt Vaulting Voussoir Windcatcher Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem arch styles Discharging arch Four - centred arch Horseshoe arch Multifoil arch Ogee arch Pointed arch roof styles Dome ( Arabic dome / Onion dome / Persian dome / South Asian dome ) Guldasta Tajug religious objects Bedug Dikka Gonbad Hussainiya Imamzadeh Kiswah Loudspeakers Maqsurah Mihrab Minaret Minbar Müezzin mahfili Qibla Zarih decorations Alfiz Arabesque Banna'i Girih Girih tiles Islamic calligraphy Islamic geometric patterns Islamic interlace patterns Jali Mocárabe Mosque lamp Muqarnas Nagash painting Qashani Shabaka Socarrat Yeseria Zellige rooms Andaruni Harem Qa'a Zenana garden Bagh Charbagh Islamic garden Mughal gardens Ottoman gardens Paradise garden Persian gardens Reflecting pool outdoor objects Chhatri Eidgah Howz Shading Umbrellas Mechouar Sebil Shadirvan types religious Dargah Gongbei Jama Masjid Jama'at Khana Khanqah Külliye Madrasa Maqam Maqbara Mazar Mosque Musalla Qubba Rauza Surau Tekyeh Türbe Zawiya civilian Baradari Bazaar Caravanserai Dar al - Shifa Ghorfa Kasbah Mahal Medina quarter Souq Turkish bath Well house military Albarrana tower Alcazaba Alcázar Amsar Bab Kasbah Ksar Qalat Ribat resources Aga Khan Award for Architecture ArchNet influences Indo - Saracenic Revival Influences on Western architecture Moorish Revival Part of Islamic arts Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Horseshoe_arch&oldid=830655146 '' Categories : Arches and vaults Islamic architectural elements Talk About Wikipedia Català Español Esperanto Euskara Français Galego Italiano Nederlands Português Русский 3 more Edit links This page was last edited on 16 March 2018, at 04 : 30. About Wikipedia

Question: horseshoe arches were an important architectural feature of the
Answer: Moorish architecture