The alfiz (, from

Andalusi Arabic Andalusi Arabic (), also known as Andalusian Arabic, was a variety or varieties of Arabic spoken mainly from the 9th to the 17th century in Al-Andalus, the regions of the Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain and Portugal) once under Muslim rule. It b ...

''alḥíz'', from Standard Arabic ''alḥáyyiz'', meaning 'the container';Alfiz
"''DRAE. Diccionario de la Lengua Española. Vigésima segunda edición''", Espasa Calpe, S.A, 2003) is an architectonic adornment, consisting of a moulding, usually a rectangular panel, which encloses the outward side of an arch. It is an architectonic ornament of Etruscan origin, used in

Visigothic The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kno ...

, Asturian, Moorish,

Mozarabic Mozarabic, also called Andalusi Romance, refers to the medieval Romance varieties spoken in the Iberian Peninsula in territories controlled by the Islamic Emirate of Córdoba and its successors. They were the common tongue for the majority of ...

Mudéjar Mudéjar ( , also , , ca, mudèjar , ; from ar, مدجن, mudajjan, subjugated; tamed; domesticated) refers to the group of Muslims who remained in Iberia in the late medieval period despite the Christian reconquest. It is also a term for ...

and Isabelline Gothic architecture. It is frequent in the Islamic Hispanic art and Mozarabic art (usually in connection with the

horseshoe arch The horseshoe arch (; Spanish: "arco de herradura"), also called the Moorish arch and the keyhole arch, is an emblematic arch of Islamic architecture, especially Moorish architecture. Horseshoe arches can take rounded, pointed or lobed form. Hi ...

). As the image illustrates, there are two alfiz variants: # Alfiz starting from the impost. # Alfiz starting from the floor. The space between the arch and the alfiz is called ''enjuta'' or ''arrabá'', usually richly decorated (iron-gray in the illustration). Each curved triangle is called ''albanega'' (

spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...

References

{{Islamic architecture Islamic architectural elements Mozarabic architecture Moorish architecture of the Iberian peninsula Ornaments (architecture)