Azulejo

Elderly couple crosses street through mist to visit Sunday morning worship in Carmo Church. The lateral facade of the Carmo Church is coated with a grand azulejos, representing scenes alluding to the founding of the Carmelite Order and Mount Carmel. The composition was designed by Silvestre Silvestri, painted by Carlos Branco and performed in Vila Nova de Gaia at Fábrica do Senhor de Além and at Fábrica da Torrinha, and dated by 1912.

Azulejos may not be the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about Portugal, but when you do visit the country you won’t miss them – and you won’t forget them - reported CanalCulture.

Azulejo is a form of Portuguese or Spanish painted, tin-glazed, ceramic tilework. It has become a typical aspect of Portuguese culture, having been produced without interruption for five centuries. There is also a tradition of their production in former Portuguese and Spanish colonies in Latin America and in the Philippines.

In Portugal, azulejos are found on the interior and exterior of churches, palaces, ordinary houses and even railway stations or subway stations. They constitute a major aspect of Portuguese architecture as they are applied on walls, floors and even ceilings. They were not only used as an ornamental art form, but also had a specific functional capacity like temperature control in homes. Many azulejos chronicle major historical and cultural aspects of Portuguese history - reported Wikipedia.

The art was introduced to Portugal, by the Moors and the craft is still in use in the Arab world in two main traditions the "Egyptian Zalij" and the "Moroccan Zalij" the latter being the most famous. The word azulejo is derived from the Arabic word الزليج (az-zulayj): zellige, meaning "polished stone". This origin explains the unmistakable Arab influences in many tiles: interlocking curvilinear, geometric or floral motifs. The Spanish city of Seville had become the major centre of the Hispano-Moresque tile industry, employing the old techniques of cuerda seca ('dry string') and cuenca.

The earliest azulejos in the 15th century were dry-string tiles (cuerda seca) and azulejos alicatados (panels of tile-mosaic) in Moorish tradition, imported from Seville by king Manuel I after a visit to that town in 1503. ... The Portuguese adopted the Moorish tradition of horror vacui ('fear of empty spaces') and covered the walls completely with azulejos.

After the Portuguese had captured Ceuta (North Africa) in 1415 they became acquainted with the azulejo technique themselves. But until the mid-16th century the Portuguese continued to rely on foreign imports—mostly from Spain, but also on a smaller scale from Antwerp (Flanders) and Italy.

When potters from Spain, Flanders and Italy came to Portugal in the early 16th century and established workshops there, they brought with them the maiolica techniques (which made it possible to paint directly on the tiles). This technique allowed the artists to represent a much larger number of figurative themes in their compositions.

Articles for home reading:

• Teresa Soeiro, Jorge Fernandes Alves, Silvestre Lacerda, Joaquim Oliveira - «A cerâmica portuense : evolução empresarial e estruturas edificadas» (The ceramic of Porto: business development and building structures), Portugalia, Nova Série, Vol. XVI, Faculdade de Letras, Porto, 1995, p. 203-287

• Sandra Araújo de Amorim - «Contributos para o estudo do azulejo publicitaário» (Contributions to the study of tile advertising), Revista da Faculdade de Letras, CIÊNCIAS E TÉCNICAS DO PATRIMÓNIO, Porto, 2003, I Série vol. 2, pp. 783-801

Europe / Portugal

Lat: 41° 8' 50.06" N
Long: 9° 37' 57.49" W

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Street in Alfama district of Lisbon

The reconstruction of Lisbon after the Great Earthquake of 1755 gave rise to a more utilitarian role for decoration with azulejos. This bare and functional style would become known as the Pombaline style, named after the Marquis of Pombal, who was put in charge of rebuilding the country. Small devotional azulejo panels started to appear on buildings as protection against future disasters.