Horseshoe arch

The horseshoe arch (Arabic: قوس حدوة الحصان; Spanish: arco de herradura), also called the Moorish arch and the keyhole arch, is a type of arch in which the circular curve is continued below the horizontal line of its diameter, so that the opening at the bottom of the arch is narrower than the arch's full span.[1][2][3] Evidence for the earliest uses of this form are found in Late Antique and Sasanian architecture, but it became emblematic of Islamic architecture, especially Moorish architecture. It also made later appearances in Moorish Revival and Art Nouveau styles. Horseshoe arches can take rounded, pointed or lobed form.

History

Origins and early uses

The origins of the horseshoe arch are controversial.[4] 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).[5][4][6] It also appeared in Late Roman or Byzantine architecture, as well as in Roman Spain.[7] In Byzantine Syria,[4] the form was used in the Baptistery of Saint Jacob at Nusaybin (4th century CE)[8] and in Qasr Ibn Wardan (564 CE).[9] Evidence of its use is also found in early Christian architecture in Byzantine Anatolia and became characteristic of Christian architecture in Cappadocia,[10][11][12] though the origins of this regional feature are sometimes debated.[lower-alpha 1] An early example of its use in Anatolia is found at the Alahan Monastery in present-day southern Turkey.[10] 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.[16] 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.[17]

Horseshoe arches in the Umayyad palace at the Citadel of Amman (early 8th century, partially restored)[18]

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.[19][20] They are also found in the Umayyad Palace at the Amman Citadel in present-day Jordan.[4]

According to Giovanni Teresio Rivoira, an archeologist writing in the early 20th century, the pointed variant of the horseshoe arch is of Islamic origin.[21] According to Rivoira, this type of arch was first used in the Ibn Tulun Mosque,[21] completed in 879.[22] Wijdan Ali also describes this as the first systematic use of the pointed variant.[23] Horseshoe arches of a slightly pointed form were also used in Aghlabid architecture of the 9th century,[24]: 45  including the Great Mosque of Kairouan (circa 836) and the Mosque of Ibn Khayrun (866).[25][26]

Development in the Iberian Peninsula and the Maghreb

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.[27][7][28] 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.[29]: 43  The "Moorish" arch, however, was of a slightly different and more sophisticated form than the Visigothic arch, being less flat and more circular.[24]: 163–164 [29]: 43 

Reception hall of Madinat al-Zahra, 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.[24]: 45  This can be seen at a large scale in their major work, the Great Mosque of Córdoba.[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.[30] 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.[24]: 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.[31] The addition of an alfiz around horseshoe arches was one detail more specifically borrowed from Islamic styles.[31] Starting in the 9th century, some Mozarabs (Christians living under Muslim rule) left al-Andalus and settled in the northern Christian territories,[lower-alpha 2] where they contributed to popularizing this form locally, as exemplified by San Miguel de Escalada (10th century).[32][33][34] The Mozarabs also incorporated horseshoe arches into their art, such as in illuminated manuscripts.[35][36]

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.[24]: 234  Art historian Georges Marçais attributed it in particular to Ifriqiya (present-day Tunisia), where it was present in earlier Aghlabid and Fatimid architecture.[24]: 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.[37] Horseshoe arches also continued to be used in the Maghreb, in the architecture of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.[38][24]

Use in other parts of the Islamic world

Horseshoe arches at the Alai Darwaza 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.[43] Around the same time or not long afterward, they begin to appear as far east as India,[43] in Indo-Islamic architecture, such as in the Alai Darwaza gatehouse (dating from 1311) at the Qutb Complex in Delhi,[44] though they were not a consistent feature in India.

Some pointed arches with a slightly horseshoe shape appear in Ayyubid architecture in Syria.[45] 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.[46] 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.[47]

Use in Moorish revival architecture

Jerusalem Synagogue in Prague, Czech Republic, an example of Moorish Revival architecture (1906)[48]

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.[49][50] They were employed in the Neo-Mudéjar style in Spain, another type of Moorish Revival style.[51] They are used in some forms of Indo-Saracenic Revival architecture, a 19th-century style associated with the British Raj.[51]

Use in Art Nouveau

Exaggerated Art Nouveau horseshoe arch at Villa Beau-Site, Brussels (1905)

Exaggerated horseshoe arches were also popular in some forms of Art Nouveau architecture, notably in Brussels.[52] Among other examples, this can be seen on the street façade of the Cauchie House.[53]

Notes

  1. ↑ 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.[13][14] 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.[15] 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.[10][11][12]
  2. ↑ 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.[31]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Horseshoe arches.
  1. ↑ Lavan, Luke; Zanini, Enrico; Sarantis, Alexander Constantine, eds. (2007). Technology in Transition: A.D. 300-650. Brill. p. 536. ISBN 978-90-04-16549-6.
  2. ↑ Curl, James Stevens (2006) [1999]. A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-19-860678-9.
  3. ↑ Harris, Cyril M. (2013). Illustrated Dictionary of Historic Architecture. Courier Corporation. ISBN 978-0-486-13211-2.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Arce, Ignacio (2007). "Umayyad Building Techniques and the Merging of Roman-Byzantine and Partho-Sassanian Traditions: Continuity and Change". In Lavan, Luke; Zanini, Enrico; Sarantis, Alexander Constantine (eds.). Technology in Transition: A.D. 300-650. Brill. pp. 514–515. ISBN 978-90-04-16549-6.
  5. ↑ Culture, Research Centre for Islamic History, Art, and (2005). Cultural Contacts in Building a Universal Civilisation: Islamic Contributions. O.I.C. Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA). p. 256. ISBN 978-92-9063-144-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ↑ Ball, Warwick; Fischer, Klaus (2019). "From the Rise of Islam to the Mongol Invasion". In Allchin, Raymond; Hammond, Norman (eds.). Archaeology of Afghanistan: From Earliest Times to the Timurid Period: New Edition. Edinburgh University Press. p. 508. ISBN 978-1-4744-5046-1.
  7. 1 2 Marçais, Georges (1954). L'architecture musulmane d'Occident. Paris: Arts et métiers graphiques. pp. 163–164.
  8. ↑ Andrew Petersen: "Dictionary of Islamic Architecture", Routledge, 1999, ISBN 0-415-21332-0, p. 24
  9. ↑ Draper, Peter (2005). "Islam and the West: The Early Use of the Pointed Arch Revisited". Architectural History. 48: 1–20. doi:10.1017/S0066622X00003701. JSTOR 40033831. S2CID 194947480.
  10. 1 2 3 Thierry, Nicole (2002). La Cappadoce de l'antiquité au moyen âge (in French). Brepols. pp. 101–102. ISBN 978-2-503-50947-1.
  11. 1 2 Ousterhout, Robert G. (2005). A Byzantine Settlement in Cappadocia. Dumbarton Oaks. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-88402-310-4.
  12. 1 2 Niewöhner, Philipp (2015). "The late Late Antique origins of Byzantine palace architecture". In Featherstone, Michael; Spieser, Jean-Michel; Tanman, Gülru; Wulf-Rheidt, Ulrike (eds.). The Emperor's House: Palaces from Augustus to the Age of Absolutism. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. pp. 31–34. ISBN 978-3-11-033176-9.
  13. ↑ Mathews, Thomas F.; Mathews Daskalakis, Annie-Christine (1997). "Islamic-Style Mansions in Byzantine Cappadocia and the Development of the Inverted T-Plan". Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. 56 (3): 294–315. doi:10.2307/991243. ISSN 0037-9808. JSTOR 991243.
  14. ↑ Öztürk, Fatma Gül (2017). "Transformation of the 'Sacred' Image of a Byzantine Cappadocian Settlement". In Blessing, Patricia; Goshgarian, Rachel (eds.). Architecture and Landscape in Medieval Anatolia, 1100-1500. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 146–147. ISBN 978-1-4744-1130-1.
  15. ↑ Cooper, Eric; Decker, Michael J. (2012). Life and Society in Byzantine Cappadocia. Springer. pp. 206–208. ISBN 978-1-137-02964-5.
  16. ↑ Collins, Roger (1998). Spain: An Oxford Archaeological Guide. Oxford University Press. p. 242. ISBN 978-0-19-285300-4.
  17. ↑ "Hallan una estela discoidea con arcos de herradura en las murallas de León". www.soitu.es. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  18. ↑ "Umayyad Palace at Amman". Archnet. Retrieved 2022-03-20.
  19. ↑ Darke, Diana (2020). Stealing from the Saracens: How Islamic Architecture Shaped Europe. Oxford University Press. pp. 129, 166–167. ISBN 978-1-78738-305-0.
  20. ↑ Ali, Wijdan (1999). The Arab Contribution to Islamic Art: From the Seventh to the Fifteenth Centuries. American Univ in Cairo Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-977-424-476-6.
  21. 1 2 Ragette, Friedrich (1974). Architecture in Lebanon: The Lebanese House During the 18th and 19th Centuries. American University of Beirut. p. 176. ISBN 978-0-8156-6044-6.
  22. ↑ Swelim, Tarek (2015). Ibn Tulun: His Lost City and Great Mosque. The American University in Cairo Press. p. 65.
  23. ↑ Ali, Wijdan (1999). The Arab Contribution to Islamic Art: From the Seventh to the Fifteenth Centuries. American University in Cairo Press. p. 62. ISBN 978-977-424-476-6.
  24. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Marçais, Georges (1954). L'architecture musulmane d'Occident. Paris: Arts et métiers graphiques.
  25. 1 2 "Arch". ArchNet — Digital Library — Dictionary of Islamic Architecture. Archived from the original on 2011-05-25. Retrieved 2008-10-30.
  26. ↑ "Qantara - Mosque of the Three Doors". www.qantara-med.org. Retrieved 2022-03-20.
  27. ↑ Dodds, Jerrilynn Denise (1990). Architecture and Ideology in Early Medieval Spain. Penn State Press. ISBN 978-0-271-00671-0.
  28. ↑ Barrucand, Marianne; Bednorz, Achim (1992). Moorish architecture in Andalusia. Taschen. p. 43. ISBN 3822876348.
  29. 1 2 Barrucand, Marianne; Bednorz, Achim (1992). Moorish architecture in Andalusia. Taschen. ISBN 3822876348.
  30. ↑ Bloom, Jonathan M. (2020). Architecture of the Islamic West: North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, 700-1800. Yale University Press. p. 57. ISBN 9780300218701.
  31. 1 2 3 M. Bloom, Jonathan; S. Blair, Sheila, eds. (2009). "Mozarabic". The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195309911.
  32. ↑ Mann, Janice (2009). Romanesque Architecture and Its Sculptural Decoration in Christian Spain, 1000-1120: Exploring Frontiers and Defining Identities. University of Toronto Press. p. 52. ISBN 978-0-8020-9324-0.
  33. ↑ Murray, Peter; Murray, Linda (2013). Jones, Tom Devonshire (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Christian Art and Architecture (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 471. ISBN 978-0-19-968027-6.
  34. ↑ Dodds, Jerrilynn Denise (1990). Architecture and Ideology in Early Medieval Spain. Penn State Press. p. 48. ISBN 978-0-271-00671-0.
  35. ↑ Qôǧman-Appel, Qaṭrîn (2004). Jewish Book Art Between Islam and Christianity: The Decoration of Hebrew Bibles in Medieval Spain. Brill. p. 118. ISBN 978-90-04-13789-9.
  36. ↑ Gómez, Margarita López (2021). "The Mozarabs: Worthy Bearers of Islamic Culture". In Jayyusi, Salma Khadra (ed.). The Legacy of Muslim Spain. Brill. p. 172. ISBN 978-90-04-50259-8.
  37. ↑ M. Bloom, Jonathan; S. Blair, Sheila, eds. (2009). "Mudéjar". The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195309911.
  38. ↑ Bloom, Jonathan M. (2020). Architecture of the Islamic West: North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, 700-1800. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300218701.
  39. ↑ Kaplan, Gregory B. (2012). "The Mozarabic Horseshoe Arches in the Church of San Román de Moroso (Cantabria, Spain)". Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture. 3 (3): 1–18.
  40. ↑ de Palol, Pere (1998). "From Antiquity to the Middle Ages, Christianity and the Visigothic World". In Barral i Altet, Xavier (ed.). Art and Architecture of Spaiin. Bulfinch Press. p. 64. ISBN 0821224565.
  41. ↑ Borrás Gualís, Gonzalo M.; Lavado Paradinas, Pedro; Pleguezuelo Hernández, Alfonso; Pérez Higuera, María Teresa; Mogollón Cano-Cortés, María Pilar; Morales, Alfredo J.; López Guzman, Rafael; Sorroche Cuerva, Miguel Ángel; Stuyck Fernández Arche, Sandra (2019). "IX.1.c Church of San Roman". Mudéjar Art: Islamic Aesthetics in Christian Art. Museum With No Frontiers, MWNF (Museum Ohne Grenzen). ISBN 978-3-902782-15-1.
  42. ↑ "Dar Mustafa Pasha - Discover Islamic Art - Virtual Museum". islamicart.museumwnf.org. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  43. 1 2 M. Bloom, Jonathan; S. Blair, Sheila, eds. (2009). "Architecture; V. c. 900–c. 1250; A. Eastern Islamic lands.; 3. Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, c. 1050–c. 1250.". The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195309911.
  44. ↑ M. Bloom, Jonathan; S. Blair, Sheila, eds. (2009). "Delhi". The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195309911.
  45. ↑ M. Bloom, Jonathan; S. Blair, Sheila, eds. (2009). "Architecture; V. c. 900–c. 1250; B. Central Islamic lands.; 5. Syria, the Jazira and Iraq.". The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195309911.
  46. ↑ M. Bloom, Jonathan; S. Blair, Sheila, eds. (2009). "Architecture; V. c. 900–c. 1250; C. Central Islamic lands.; 1. Egypt and Syria.". The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195309911.
  47. ↑ Behrens-Abouseif, Doris (1992). Islamic Architecture in Cairo: An Introduction. Brill. p. 55. ISBN 978-90-04-09626-4.
  48. ↑ "Jerusalem Synagogue". World Monuments Fund. Retrieved 2022-03-20.
  49. ↑ Raphael, Marc Lee (2011). The Synagogue in America: A Short History. NYU Press. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-8147-7582-0.
  50. ↑ Wolfe, Gerard R. (2013). The Synagogues of New York's Lower East Side:: A Retrospective and Contemporary View, 2nd Edition. Fordham Univ Press. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-8232-5000-4.
  51. 1 2 Anderson, Anne (2020). Art Nouveau Architecture. The Crowood Press. ISBN 978-1-78500-768-2.
  52. ↑ Dubois, Cécile (2018). Brussels Art Nouveau. Brussels: Lannoo. pp. 50–51. ISBN 978-2-39025-045-6.
  53. ↑ Warren, Richard (2017). Art Nouveau and the Classical Tradition. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 33–34. ISBN 978-1-4742-9856-8.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.