A alcarga, "welcome" or "era", is a space equipped to collect rainwater and guide it to a cistern, an underground water container, created by farmers and inhabitants of the Canary Islands, common in places where aridity predominates. Traditionally, the collected water was used for domestic consumption, animal husbandry and agriculture.[1]​[2]​.

These spaces built with an aspect, often so particular, for example on the slopes of mountains, ravines, or any other appropriate unevenness of the terrain, mark the landscape appearance of the driest islands of the Canary Archipelago, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura.[3][4]​.

With the introduction of desalination plants and the population's more convenient access to water, they have lost their importance, which was then vital.[5]​ For centuries they made life on the island possible and are, as buildings, determining factors in the Lanzarote landscape, as well as of historical-cultural importance.[6]​.