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AZULEJOS

The Art of Portuguese Ceramic Tiles
Tiles (called Azulejos) are everywhere in Portugal. They decorate everything from
walls of churches and monasteries, to palaces, ordinary houses, park seats, fountains,
shops, and railway stations. They often portray scenes from the history of the country,
show its most ravishing sights, or simply serve as street signs, nameplates, or house
numbers.

Although they are not a Portuguese invention (the use of glazed tiles began in Egypt),
they have been used more imaginatively and consistently in Portugal than in any
other nation. They became an art form, and by the 18th century no other European
country was producing as many tiles for such a variety of purposes and in so many
different designs. Today, they still remain a very important part of the country's
architecture.
After the Gothic period, most large buildings had extensive areas of flat plaster on
their interior walls, which needed some form of decoration. These empty architectural
spaces produced the art of the fresco in Italy, and in Portugal, the art of the Azulejos.

The term Azulejos comes from the Arabic word az-zulayj, meaning "polished stone."
The Moors brought this term to the Iberian Peninsula, but despite their long presence,
their influence in early Portuguese Azulejos was introduced from Spain in the 15th
century, well after the Christian reconquest. No tile work from the time of the
Moorish occupation survives in Portugal.

King Manuel I of Portugal was dazzled by the Alhambra in Granada (Spain), and
decided to have his palace in Sintra decorated with the same rich ceramic tiles. The
first ones were imported from Seville, and in accordance to Islamic law, they
portrayed no human figures, only geometric patterns.

Gradually the Portuguese painters weaned themselves off ornamental decoration and
employed human or animal figures in their designs. The dominant colors were blue,
yellow, green and white, but in the 17th century, large, carpet-like tiles used just
white and blue, the fashionable colors at the time of the Great Discoveries, influenced
by the Ming Dynasty porcelain from China. They now portrayed Christian legends,
historical events, and were not only decorative, but also protected against damp, heat
and noise.