''Azulejo'' (, ; from the Arabic ''al- zillīj'', ) is a form of

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

and

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

painted tin-glazed

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

tilework. ''Azulejos'' are found on the interior and exterior of churches, palaces, ordinary houses, schools, and nowadays, restaurants, bars and even railways or subway stations. They are an ornamental art form, but also had a specific functional capacity like

temperature control Temperature control is a process in which change of temperature of a space (and objects collectively there within), or of a substance, is measured or otherwise detected, and the passage of heat energy into or out of the space or substance is ad ...

in homes. There is also a tradition of their production in former

and

colonies in North America,

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, Goa (India), Lusophone Africa,

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-west ...

, and

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a p ...

(China). ''Azulejos'' constitute a major aspect of

Spanish architecture Spanish architecture refers to architecture in any area of what is now Spain, and by Spanish architects worldwide. The term includes buildings which were constructed within the current borders of Spain prior to its existence as a nation, when ...

and

Portuguese architecture Portuguese architecture refers to both the architecture of Portugal's modern-day territory in Continental Portugal, the Azores and Madeira, as well as the architectural heritage/patrimony of Portuguese architects and styles throughout the world, p ...

to this day and are fixtures of buildings across Spain and Portugal and its former territories. Many azulejos chronicle major historical and cultural aspects of

and

Portuguese history The history of Portugal can be traced from circa 400,000 years ago, when the region of present-day Portugal was inhabited by Homo heidelbergensis. The Roman invasion in the 3rd century BC lasted several centuries, and developed the Roman provinc ...

History

13th to 15th century

The word ''azulejo'' (as well as the Ligurian ''laggion'') is derived from the

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

(''al-zillīj''):

zellij ''Zellij'' ( ar, الزليج, translit=zillīj; also spelled zillij or zellige) is a style of mosaic tilework made from individually hand-chiseled tile pieces. The pieces were typically of different colours and fitted together to form various pa ...

, meaning "polished stone" because the original idea was to imitate the Byzantine and Roman mosaics. This origin shows the unmistakable Arab influences in many tiles: interlocking curvilinear, geometric or floral motifs. The craft of ''zellige'' is still in use in the Arab world in two main traditions the "Egyptian Zalij" and the "Moroccan Zellige", the latter being the most famous. The Spanish city of Seville became the major centre of the

Hispano-Moresque Hispano-Moresque ware is a style of initially Islamic pottery created in Al-Andalus, which continued to be produced under Christian rule in styles blending Islamic and European elements. It was the most elaborate and luxurious pottery being pr ...

tile industry. The earliest ''azulejos'' in the 13th century were ''alicatados'' (panels of tile-mosaic). Tiles were glazed in a single colour, cut into geometric shapes, and assembled to form geometric patterns. Many examples can be admired in the Alhambra of Granada. The old techniques of ''

cuerda seca The term "cuerda" (Spanish for ''rope'') refers to a unit of measurement in some Spanish-speaking regions, including Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Cuba, Spain, and Paraguay. In Puerto Rico, the term cuerda (and "Spanish acre"Manuel I after a visit to Seville in 1503. They were applied on walls and used for paving floors, such as can be seen in several rooms, and especially the Arab Room of the

Sintra National Palace The Palace of Sintra ( pt, Palácio Nacional de Sintra), also called Town Palace (''Palácio da Vila''), is located in the town of Sintra, in the Lisbon District of Portugal. It is a present-day historic house museum. It is the best-preserved m ...

(including the famous ''cuenca'' tiles with the armillary sphere, symbol of king Manuel I). The Portuguese adopted the Moorish tradition of '' horror vacui'' ('fear of empty spaces') and covered the walls completely with ''azulejos''. File:Cuarto Real de Santo Domingo, Granada. Elementos decorativos.jpg, (Moorish) Azulejos (ca. 13th century) of the Qubba of Cuarto Real de Santo Domingo, Granada. File:Alhambra-p3-wall.jpg, (Moorish) ''Alicatado'' in the Alhambra, ''circa'' 1350, Granada File:Capilla Mudéjar de San Bartolomé in der Calle Averroes, Córdoba - panoramio.jpg, (Christian) Capilla de San Bartolomé (ca. 1410), Córdoba File:Section of a tile floor with coat of arms.jpg, (Christian) ''Alfardones'' », ''circa'' 1420,

Manises Manises (, ) is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Horta Oest in the Valencian Community, Spain. Located in the province of Valencia, it had 30,693 inhabitants in 2018 (NSI) and is famous for its pottery and being the location of Valencia Airp ...

, Spain File:Palacio Sintra azulejo5.JPG, (Christian) Azulejos of the 15th century of the

, Portugal File:Alcazar Segovia 200846.JPG, (Christian) Tiles in Alcázar of Segovia

16th century

Potters from Italy came into Seville in the early 16th century and established workshops there. They brought with them the ''

maiolica Maiolica is tin-glazed pottery decorated in colours on a white background. Italian maiolica dating from the Renaissance period is the most renowned. When depicting historical and mythical scenes, these works were known as ''istoriato'' wares ...

'' techniques which allowed the artists to represent a much larger number of figurative themes in their compositions. The first Italian potter to move into Spain was Francisco Niculoso who settled in Seville in 1498. Examples of his work can still be admired ''in situ'' in the Alcazar of Seville. Under the influence of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

style introduced by Italians artists, most azulejos were polychrome tile panels depicting allegorical or mythological scenes, scenes from the lives of saints or the Bible, or hunting scenes. Mannerism and the

grotesque Since at least the 18th century (in French and German as well as English), grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, mysterious, magnificent, fantastic, hideous, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or disgusting, and thus ...

style, with its bizarre representations, had much influence on azulejos. Until the mid-16th century the Portuguese continued to rely on foreign imports, mostly from Spain, such as the ''Annunciation'' by Francisco Niculoso in Évora, but also on a smaller scale from Antwerp (Flanders), such as the two panels by Jan Bogaerts in the Paço Ducal of Vila Viçosa (Alentejo). One of the early Portuguese masters of the 16th century was Marçal de Matos, to whom ''Susanna and the Elders'' (1565), in

Quinta da Bacalhoa Quinta may refer to: * Quinta (estate) in Portugal * Quinta (musician), British multi-instrumentalist * In medieval music theory, alternative term for diapente (perfect fifth) * ''Quinta'' (skipper), genus of butterflies * Claudia Quinta, Roman ma ...

, Azeitão, is attributed, as well as the ''Adoration of the Shepherds'' (in the National Museum of Azulejos in Lisbon). The ''Miracle of St. Roque'' (in the Church of S. Roque, Lisbon) is the first dated Portuguese ''azulejo'' composition (1584). It is the work of Francisco de Matos, probably the nephew and pupil of Marçal de Matos. Both drew their inspiration from

and

Mannerist Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Ita ...

paintings and

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...

s from Italy and Flanders. A fine collection of 16th-century azulejos (''azulejos Hispano-mouriscos'') can be found in the Museu da Rainha D. Leonor in Beja, Portugal (the former ''Convento da Conceição''). In the late 16th century, ''checkered'' azulejos were used as decoration for large surfaces, such as in churches and monasteries. Diagonally placed plain white tiles were surrounded by blue square ones and narrow border tiles. File:Niculoso Alcazar Seville.jpg, Chapel of the Alcázar of Seville (Spain) covered with tin-glazed tiles painted in 1504 by the Pisan Francesco Niculoso. File:Sevilla-4-9 (48040450686).jpg, Casa de Pilatos in Seville has around 150 different azulejo designs of the 1530s, one of the largest antique collections in the world File:Azulejo Loaysa panel ni.jpg, Panel of Hernando de Loaysa, around 1590,

Palacio de Fabio Nelli The Palacio de Fabio Nelli is, according to the critics and historians, the Renaissance architecture, Renaissance building of the most important classical period of the city of Valladolid (Castile and León, Spain). According to the architect Anton ...

, Valladolid, Spain. File:Valladolid convento santaisabel azulejo siglo XVI by lou.jpg, 16th-century azulejos in Convent of Santa Isabel, Valladolid File:TalaveraDeLaReina Azulejos.jpg, Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Prado,

Talavera de la Reina Talavera de la Reina () is a city and municipality of Spain, part of the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Its population of 83,303 makes it the second most populated municipality of the province of Toledo and the fourth largest in the ...

, Spain. File:Patriarca taulells.jpg,

Real Colegio Seminario del Corpus Christi The Real Colegio Seminario del Corpus Christi (Royal College and Seminary of Corpus Christi) is a former Roman Catholic school and seminary founded in 1583 in the Spanish city of Valencia. It is located in calle de la Nau in the old city, opposite ...

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

, Spain. File:Mare de Déu com a emblema del braç eclesiàstic, sòcol ceràmic de la sala Nova del palau de la Generalitat Valenciana.JPG, Azulejos made by Hernando de Santiago and Juan de Víllalba in 1575 in Sala Nova, Palau de la Generalitat Valenciana, Valencia. File:AzulejoMonasterioToledo.JPG, Azulejo of the Santa Cruz Hospital in Toledo, Spain. File:Wall with azulejos - Palacio de la Condesa de Lebrija.JPG, Azulejos of the Palacio de la Condesa de Lebrija (ca. 1585), Seville File:Azulejo-Museum1.jpg, Altarpiece of Our Lady of Life, painted in 1580 by Marçal de Matos, National Museum of the Azulejo, Lisbon.

17th century

Shortly afterwards, these plain white tiles were replaced by polychrome tiles (''enxaquetado rico'') often giving a complex framework such as in the Igreja de Santa Maria de Marvila in

Santarém, Portugal Santarém () is a city and municipality located in the district of Santarém in Portugal. The population in 2021 was 58 671,excluding the parish Pombalinho, that changed from the municipality of Santarém to Golegã in 2013 in an area of 552.54&n ...

with one of the most outstanding tile-based interior decorations in Portugal. When the diagonal tiles were replaced by a repetitive pattern of horizontal polychrome tiles, one could obtain a new design with different motifs, interlacing Mannerist drawings with representations of roses and camellias (sometimes roses and

garland A garland is a decorative braid, knot or wreath of flowers, leaves, or other material. Garlands can be worn on the head or around the neck, hung on an inanimate object, or laid in a place of cultural or religious importance. Etymology From the ...

s). An inset votive usually depicts a scene from the life of Christ or a saint. These carpet compositions (''azulejo de tapete''), as they were called, elaborately framed with

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

s and borders, were produced in great numbers during the 17th century. The best examples are to be found in the Igreja do Salvador, Évora, Igreja de S. Quintino, Obral de Monte Agraço, Igreja de S. Vicente, Cuba (Portugal) and the university chapel in Coimbra. The use of ''azulejos'' for the decoration of

antependia An ''antependium'' (from Latin ''ante-'' and ''pendēre'' "to hang before"; pl: ''antependia''), also known as a ''parament'' or ''hanging'', or, when speaking specifically of the hanging for the altar, an altar frontal (Latin: ''pallium altaris ...

(front of an

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...

), imitating precious altar cloths, is typical for Portugal. The panel may be in one piece, or composed of two or three sections. They were used in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Some antependia of the 17th century imitate oriental fabrics (

calico Calico (; in British usage since 1505) is a heavy plain-woven textile made from unbleached, and often not fully processed, cotton. It may also contain unseparated husk parts. The fabric is far coarser than muslin, but less coarse and thick than ...

chintz Chintz () is a woodblock printed, painted, stained or glazed calico textile that originated in Golconda (present day Hyderabad, India) in the 16th century. The cloth is printed with designs featuring flowers and other patterns in different colour ...

). The golden fringes of the altar cloth were imitated by yellow motifs on the painted border tiles. Excellent examples can be found in the

Hospital de Santa Marta Hospital de Santa Marta (, "Saint Martha's Hospital") is a public Healthcare in Portugal#Hospitals, Central Hospital serving the Grande Lisboa, Greater Lisbon area as part of the Centro Hospitalar Universitário de Lisboa Central, Central Lisbon Un ...

, Lisbon, or in the Convent of Santa Maria de Almoster and the

Convento de Santa Cruz do Buçaco Convento de Santa Cruz do Buçaco is a former Carmelite monastery in the Mata Nacional do Buçaco ( Buçaco Forest) protected forest of the Serra do Buçaco, Portugal. It was constructed in 1628. It closed in 1834 following the suppression of male ...

. During the same period another motif in

s was introduced: floral vases flanked by birds, dolphins or putti, the so-called ''albarradas''. They were probably inspired by Flemish paintings of flower vases, such as by Jan Brueghel the Elder. These were still free-standing in the 17th century, but they would be used in repetitive modules in the 18th century. Azulejos dating from 1642 are in the Basilica and Convent de San Francisco de Lima, Peru.) Another type of azulejo composition, called ''aves e ramagens'' ('birds and branches'), came into vogue between 1650 and 1680. They were influenced by the representations on printed textiles that were imported from India: Hindu symbols, flowers, animals and birds. In the second half of the 17th century, the Spanish artist Gabriel del Barco y Minusca introduced into Portugal the blue-and-white tiles from Delft in the Netherlands. The workshops of Jan van Oort and

Willem van der Kloet Willem () is a Dutch and West FrisianRienk de Haan, ''Fryske Foarnammen'', Leeuwarden, 2002 (Friese Pers Boekerij), , p. 158. masculine given name. The name is Germanic, and can be seen as the Dutch equivalent of the name William in English, Gu ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

created large tile panels with historical scenes for their rich Portuguese clients, such as for the Palace of the Marqueses da Fronteira in Benfica, Lisbon. But when King Peter II stopped all imports of ''azulejos'' between 1687 and 1698, the workshop of Gabriel del Barco took over the production. The last major production from Holland was delivered in 1715. Soon large, home-made blue-and-white figurative tiles, designed by academically trained Portuguese artists, became the dominant fashion, superseding the former taste for repeated patterns and abstract decoration. Image:Beja26.jpg, Carpet-style decoration
Museu da Rainha D. Leonor; Beja, Portugal Image:Sagres07.jpg, Antependium decorated with azulejos
Church of Nossa Senhora da Graça; Sagres, Portugal Image:В саду Дворца Фронтейра (11609800903).jpg, Kings Gallery fountain, Palace of the Marquess of Fronteira, Lisbon, Portugal File:Lisbon Travel 2011 (5900363958).jpg, Palace of the Marquess of Fronteira, Lisbon. File:Santas Justa y Rufina.jpg, '' Saints Justa and Rufina'', ca. 1600, Museum of Fine Arts of Seville File:Santo Domingo Lima, Kacheln aus Sevilla.jpg, Detail of the azulejos (ca. 1606) at the Basilica of Santo Domingo, Lima, Peru File:Capilla del Rosario 07.jpg, Azulejos inside the Chapel of the Rosario (1531-1690), Puebla City, Mexico

18th century

The late 17th and early 18th centuries became the 'Golden Age of the Azulejo', the so-called Cycle of the Masters (''Ciclo dos Mestres''). Mass production was started not just because of a greater internal demand, but also because of large orders came in from the Portuguese colony of Brazil. Large one-off orders were replaced by the less expensive use of repetitive tile patterns. Churches, monasteries, palaces and even houses were covered inside and outside with ''azulejos'', many with exuberant Baroque elements. The most prominent master-designers in these early years of the 18th century were: António Pereira (artist), Manuel dos Santos, the workshop of António de Oliveira Bernardes and his son Policarpo de Oliveira Bernardes; the

Master PMP Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

(only known by his monogram) and his collaborators Teotónio dos Santos and

Valentim de Almeida Valentim is both a Portuguese surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Evangelino Valentim (born 1984), Nigerian footballer * Valentim (footballer) (born 1977), full name Francisco de Assis Clarentino Valentim, Braz ...

; Bartolomeu Antunes and his pupil Nicolau de Freitas. As their production coincided with the reign of King João V (1706–1750), the style of this period is also called the Joanine style. During this same period appear the first 'invitation figures' (''figura de convite''), invented by the Master PMP and produced in the 18th and 19th centuries. These are cut-out panels of ''azulejos'' with life-size figures (footmen, halberdiers, noblemen or elegantly dressed ladies), usually placed in entrances of palaces (see Palácio da Mitra), patios and stair landings. Their purpose was to welcome visitors. They can only be found in Portugal. In the 1740s the taste of Portuguese society changed from the monumental narrative panels to smaller and more delicately executed panels in

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

style. These panels depict gallant and pastoral themes as they occur in the works of the French painter

Antoine Watteau Jean-Antoine Watteau (, , ; baptised October 10, 1684died July 18, 1721) Alsavailablevia Oxford Art Online (subscription needed). was a French painter and draughtsman whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement, a ...

. Fine examples are the façade and the gardens of the Palace of the Dukes de Mesquitela in Carnide ( Lisbon) and the ' in the

Queluz National Palace The Palace of Queluz ( pt, Palácio de Queluz, ) is an 18th-century palace located at Queluz, a city of the Sintra Municipality, in the Lisbon District, on the Portuguese Riviera. One of the last great Rococo buildings to be designed in Europ ...

. The mass-produced tiles acquired a more stereotypic design with predominant polychrome irregular shell motifs. 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 The Pombaline style was a Portuguese architectural style of the 18th century, named after Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, the first Marquês de Pombal, who was instrumental in reconstructing Lisbon after the earthquake of 1755. Pombal super ...

, named after the

Marquis of Pombal Count of Oeiras () was a Portuguese title of nobility created by a royal decree, dated July 15, 1759, by King Joseph I of Portugal, and granted to Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, head of the Portuguese government. Later, through another roy ...

, who was put in charge of rebuilding the country. Small devotional ''azulejo'' panels started to appear on buildings as protection against future disasters. In

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, a large producer of Talavera—a Mexican maiolica, there are several instances of the use of azulejos on buildings and mansions. One particular mansion, the Casa de los Azulejos in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

, was built in 1737 for the Count and Countess of El Valle de Orizaba. Ceramic making traditions were imported to Mexico in the early 16th century and have flourished. As a reaction, simpler and more delicate Neoclassical designs started to appear with more subdued colours. These themes were introduced in Portugal by the engravings of Robert and James Adams. The ''Real Fábrica de Louça do Rato'', with the master-designer Sebastião Inácio de Almeida and the painter Francisco de Paula e Oliveira, became in this period an important manufacturer of the characteristic so-called ''Rato''-tiles. Another important tile painter in this period was Francisco Jorge da Costa. With great Portuguese influence, the city of São Luís, in Maranhão, in Brazil, preserves the largest urban agglomeration of azulejos from the 18th and 19th centuries, throughout Latin America. In 1997, the Historic Center of São Luís was declared a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

. São Luís is also known as "Cidade dos Azulejos". File:Sintra L1190119 (25141013871).jpg, Azulejos of the walls of Sala dos Brasões (ca. 18th century),

, Portugal Image:Palacio Queluz Corredor Mangas2.JPG, Azulejos in Rococo-style in the

Palace of Queluz The Palace of Queluz ( pt, Palácio de Queluz, ) is an 18th-century palace located at Queluz, a city of the Sintra Municipality, in the Lisbon District, on the Portuguese Riviera. One of the last great Rococo buildings to be designed in Europ ...

, Portugal. Image:Porto.Cathedral17.jpg, Albarrada, flower vase by Valentim de Almeida (between 1729 and 1731); Cathedral of Porto, Portugal. Image:Nazaré06.jpg, Azulejos by Willem van der Kloet (1708) in the transept of the Church of Nossa Senhora da Nazaré; Nazaré, Portugal. File:Cathédrale Santa Maria Maior de Lisbonne avant 1755.jpg, Azulejos of the Lisbon Cathedral, ca. 1755. Image:Óbidos - Varanda (5414515924).jpg, Azulejos vault in Óbidos, Portugal. Image:IgrejaMatrizCambra.jpg, Checkered azulejos on the façade of the Igreja Matriz de Cambra, Vouzela, Portugal File:Lisboa, Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, refeitório, azulejos (2).jpg, Azulejos (ca. 1785) of refrectory of Jerónimos Monastery, Lisbon File:Alcobaça - Mosteiro de Alcobaça 10 (22994623339).jpg, Azulejos (ca. 18th century) of the

Alcobaça Monastery The Alcobaça Monastery ( pt, Mosteiro de Alcobaça, ''Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Alcobaça'') is a Catholic monastic complex located in the town of Alcobaça, in central Portugal, some 120 km north of Lisbon. The monastery was established ...

File:Igreja da Misericórdia de Tavira - Azulejos.jpg, Azulejos (ca. 1760) of Igreja da Misericórdia,

Tavira Tavira () is a Portuguese town and municipality, capital of the ''Costa do Acantilado'', situated in the east of the Algarve on the south coast of Portugal. It is east of Faro and west of Huelva across the river Guadiana into Spain. The Gilã ...

, Portugal File:Gandía (23980380357).jpg, Galería Dorada (c. early-18th century), Ducal Palace of Gandia,

Gandia Gandia ( es, Gandía) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, eastern Spain on the Mediterranean. Gandia is located on the Costa del Azahar (or ''Costa dels Tarongers''), south of Valencia and north of Alicante. Vehicles can acc ...

, Spain Image:Azulejos-bahia2.jpg, Convent of Saint-Francis, 1702,

Salvador de Bahia Salvador (English: ''Savior'') is a Brazilian municipality and capital city of the state of Bahia. Situated in the Zona da Mata in the Northeast Region of Brazil, Salvador is recognized throughout the country and internationally for its cuisine ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. File:Casa de Azulejos 3.jpg, Casa de los Azulejos palace, ca. 1737,

. File:Vista de la Fachada del Templo de San Francisco Acatepec 9.jpg, Azulejos of the facade made between 1650 and 1750 with

Talavera pottery Talavera pottery (Spanish: Talavera poblana) is a Mexican and Spanish pottery tradition from Talavera de la Reina, in Spain. The Mexican pottery is a type of majolica ( faience) or tin-glazed earthenware, with a white base glaze typical of the ...

Church of San Francisco Acatepec Church of San Francisco Acatepec is a colonial religious building, characteristic of the Mexican Baroque architecture, especially recognized for its facade of Talavera mosaics combined with red brick. It is located in the town of San Francisco ...

in San Andrés Cholula, Mexico.

19th century

In the first half of the 19th century, there was a stagnation in the production of decorative tiles, owing first to the incursion of the Napoleonic army and later to social and economic changes. When around 1840 immigrant Brazilians started an industrialized production in Porto, the Portuguese took over the Brazilian fashion of decorating the façades of their houses with ''azulejos''. While these factories produces high-relief tiles in one or two colours, the Lisbon factories started using another method: the transfer-print method on blue-and-white or polychrome ''azulejos''. In the last decades of the 19th century, the Lisbon factories started to use another type of transfer-printing: using

creamware Creamware is a cream-coloured refined earthenware with a lead glaze over a pale body, known in France as '' faïence fine'', in the Netherlands as ''Engels porselein'', and in Italy as ''terraglia inglese''.Osborne, 140 It was created about 17 ...

blanks. While these industrialized methods produced simple, stylized designs, the art of hand-painting tiles was not dead, as applied by Manuel Joaquim de Jesus and especially Luís Ferreira. Luis Ferreira was the director of the Lisbon factory Viúva Lamego and covered the whole façade of this factory with allegorical scenes. He produced panels, known as ''Ferreira das Tabuletas'', with flower vases, trees, and allegorical figures, applying the

trompe-l'œil ''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...

technique. These hand-painted panels are fine examples of the eclectic Romantic culture of the late 19th century. Mid-19th century, in England, in addition to encaustic tiles and mosaics, the Mintons factory also produced azulejos. Image:PortoTrainStation2.jpg, Azulejo panel in the São Bento railway station in Porto, Portugal. Image:Parede da Estação de São Bento.jpg, Interior of the train station, Porto, Portugal Image:Fachada de azulejos - Lisboa.jpg, Façade of the Casa do Ferreira das Tabuletas in Lisbon. Image:AzulejoPalácioHoteldoBuçaco2.jpg, Azulejos at Buçaco Palace, in Mealhada, Portugal. Image:Aveiro Azulejo.jpg, Façade of a grand house in Aveiro, Portugal. File:Talavera de la Reina - Jardines del Prado 22.jpg, Jardines del Prado garden in

, Spain. Built in 1864. File:FacadeUriartePuebla.JPG, Uriarte Talavera, ca. 1824, Puebla, Mexico File:Intérieur_de_la_cathédrale_de_São_Tomé_(10).jpg, Inside the Grace Cathedral,

São Tomé São Tomé is the capital and largest city of the Central African island country of São Tomé and Príncipe. Its name is Portuguese for " Saint Thomas". Founded in the 15th century, it is one of Africa's oldest colonial cities. History Álvar ...

File:Streets_of_Macau_(6993777227).jpg, Portuguese Azulejos in

File:A ship with port arriving in Newfoundland in 1892 (27561193516).jpg, Portuguese Azulejo depicting the arrival of a ship with

Port wine Port wine (also known as vinho do Porto, , or simply port) is a Portuguese wine, Portuguese fortified wine produced in the Douro, Douro Valley of Norte, Portugal, northern Portugal. It is typically a sweetness of wine, sweet red wine, often ...

cargo in St. John's, Canada, 1892

20th century

At the start of the 20th century, Art Nouveau azulejos started to appear from artists such as

Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro (21 March 1846 – 23 January 1905; spelled Raphael Bordallo Pinheiro in older Portuguese orthography) was a Portuguese artist known for his illustration, caricatures, sculpture, and ceramics designs. Bordalo Pinheiro ...

, Júlio César da Silva and José António Jorge Pinto. In 1885 Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro founded a

s factory in

Caldas da Rainha Caldas da Rainha () is a medium-sized Portuguese city in the Oeste region, in the historical province of Estremadura, and in the district of Leiria. The city serves as the seat of the larger municipality of the same name and of the Comunidad ...

, where he created many of the pottery designs for which this city is known. In this factory he has his own a museum São Rafael devoted to his fantastically imaginative work, especially the decorative plates and his satirical stone figures, such as the ''Zé Povinho'' (a representation of the worrying common man). Around the 1930s,

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

-azulejos made their appearance with their principal artist António Costa. The monumental decorations, consisting of 20,000 azulejos, in the vestibule of the São Bento railway station in Porto, created by Jorge Colaço, show in its historical themes the narrative style of the romantic 'picture-postcard'. This one of the most notable creations with ''azulejos'' of the 20th century. The façades of the churches of Santo Ildefonso and Congregados equally attest to the artistic mastery of Jorge Colaço. Other artists from this period include Mário Branco and Silvestre Silvestri, who decorated in 1912 the lateral façade of the Carmo Church, and Eduardo Leite for his work on the Almas Chapel (imitating the style of the 18th century), both in Porto. 20th-century artists include Jorge Barradas, Carlos Botelho, Jorge Martins, Sá Nogueira,

Menez Menez or ''Ménez'' is a surname, and may refer to; Menez means mount or mountain in Breton. * Maria Inês Ribeiro da Fonseca a.k.a. Menez - Portuguese painter * Jérémy Ménez - French international footballer * André Menez - French biologis ...

and Paula Rego.

Maria Keil Maria Keil (9 August 1914 – 10 June 2012) was a Portuguese visual artist. She was born in Silves and died in Lisbon. Maria Keil produced a vast and diversified work that includes painting, drawing and illustration, azulejo, graphic and furni ...

designed the large abstract panels in the initial nineteen stations of the Lisbon Underground (between 1957 and 1972). Through these works she became a driving force in the revival and the updating of the art of the ''azulejo'', which had gone in some decline. Her decorations of the station ''Intendente'' is considered a masterpiece of contemporary tile art. The Museu Nacional do Azulejo in Lisbon houses the largest collection of Portuguese tiles in the world. File:Goelbench06390140.JPG, Park Güell, Barcelona, of 1914. File:Patos 19.jpg, One of the several tiled benches of the Plaza 25 de Julio built in 1917, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands File:Font de Santa Anna, detall.jpg, Azulejos made in 1918 in Font de Santa Anna, Barcelona Image:Azulejos Parque Eduardo VII-2.jpg, Panel by Jorge Colaço (circa 1922) depicting an episode from the battle of Aljubarrota (1385) between the Portuguese and Castilian armies, Lisbon,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. File:ABC BLANCO Y NEGRO (2).jpg, ABC Serrano Building built by Aníbal González in 1926, Madrid File:PlazaEspanaBancos.jpg, Plaza de España, Seville, of 1928. File:Capela das Almas (Porto).jpg, Capela de Santa Catarina, Porto; façade was covered in 1929. File:Panel, Ermera, Timor-Leste - panoramio.jpg, Portuguese Azulejos depicting the image of Our Lady of Fátima, Ermera,

. Image:Covilha-CCBY.jpg, Santa Maria Church in

Covilhã Covilhã () is a city and a municipality in the Centro region, Portugal. The city proper had 34,772 inhabitants in 2001. The municipality population in 2011 was 51,797, in an area of . It is located in the Beiras e Serra da Estrela subregion and ...

; façade was covered in the 1940s. Image:Art Noveau.jpg, Art Nouveau azulejos on a shop in Porto. Image:Azulejo Moderno - Iglesia de San Juan Bautista de Chiva - Valencia.jpg, Iglesia de San Juan Bautista de Chiva, Valencia. Image:Adding some blue to my collection azulejos.jpg, Portuguese Azulejos, at the Instituto Menezes Bragança, in the former Portuguese colony in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, Goa. File:Fonteparcduportugal.JPG, Azulejos in Parc du Portugal, made in 1956, Little Portugal,

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

, Canada File:Embaixada_de_Portugal_em_Bissau_03.jpg, Portuguese Azulejos in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau Image:Recreation_Park_bandshell.jpg, Californian Azulejos, at one of the Long Beach Historic Landmarks, Recreation Park bandshell, US Image:Lady of Fatima tiles.jpg, Luso-American Azulejos depicts an image of Our Lady of Fátima, in

The Ironbound The Ironbound is a neighborhood in the city of Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. It is a large working-class multi-ethnic community, covering approximately of well maintained streets and homes. Historically, the area was cal ...

, Newark, United States Image:Porto40.JPG, 21st-century azulejos ( Porto)

Lisbon Metro

Azulejo tiles are present in almost every station in the Lisbon Metro system. Initially, painter

(1914–2012), wife of metro system architect

Francisco Keil do Amaral Francisco Caetano Keil Coelho do Amaral, 2nd Viscount of Pedralva (Lisbon, 28 April 1910 – Lisbon, 19 February 1975), was a Portuguese architect, painter and photographer. His name was given to a street in Lisbon. Keil do Amaral stood out ...

(1910–1975) created the works for the Metro stations. A new expansion, completed in 1988, featured works by more contemporary Portuguese artists: Rolando de Sá Nogueira in Laranjeiras, Júlio Pomar in Alto dos Moinhos, Manuel Cargaleiro in Colégio Militar/Luz, and Maria Helena Vieira da Silva in Cidade Universitária. Following on from this, many artists have been commissioned to decorate new and refurbished stations.

Pieces

Traditions

* Hispano-Moresque ware (Spanish) *

Talavera de la Reina pottery Talavera de la Reina pottery is a traditional type of faience, or tin-glazed earthenware made in Talavera de la Reina, Toledo (Spain). The area has a long history of pottery, and dishes, jars, ceramics and other objects have been found in recen ...

(Spanish) *Manises pottery (Spanish) *Paterna pottery (Spanish) *

(Mexican) * Uriarte Talavera (Mexican) *El Puente del Arzobispo pottery (Spanish)

State of protection

Tiles are vulnerable to vandalism, neglect and theft due to their prevalence and relative ease of access in historic and often decaying buildings across Portugal. In Lisbon, tiles can sometimes be found for sale in street fairs and the black market, despite recent efforts to raise awareness among buyers, that are mainly foreign tourists. Since 2013 it is forbidden to demolish buildings with tile-covered façades. The highest number of thefts occurs in the capital, Lisbon, and authorities estimate that 25% of artistic tiles in that city was lost between 1980 and 2000. The main azulejo protection group in Portugal, SOS Azulejo, created in 2007 and working as a dependency of Polícia Judiciária, has identified the limitation and control of the sale of ancient tiles in those markets as their main goal. The city of Lisbon has created the 'Banco do Azulejo' (''tile bank''), which collects and stores around 30 thousand tiles from demolished or condemned buildings and from donations. Similar projects exist in the cities of Aveiro, Porto and Ovar. In August 2017, a new law was put in place in order to prevent both the demolition of tile-covered buildings and renovation work that includes the removal of tiles, even if they affect only the building's interior.

References

Sources

* Morales, Alfredo J. – ''Francisco Niculoso Pisano'', Arte Hispalense, Diputación de Sevilla, 1977, 1991 * dos Santos Simões, J. M. – ''Azulejaria em Portugal nos séculos XV e XVI : introdução geral'', Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, 2nd ed., Lisbon, 1990 (in Portuguese) * Costa, Vania �
Azulejo
Accessible Travel Magazine, September 2006 * Meco, José – ''O Azulejo em Portugal'', Alfa, Lisbon, 1988 (in Portuguese) * Castel-Branco Pereira, João – ''Portuguese tiles from the National Museum of Azulejo'', Lisbon, 1995, * Turner, J. – ''Tile – History and Uses, Portugal'' in Grove Dictionary of Art, MacMillan, 1996, * ''The Rough Guide to Portugal'' – 11th edition March 2005 – * Rentes de Carvalho J. – ''Portugal, um guia para amigos'' – in Dutch translation: ''Portugal – De Arbeiderspers'', Amsterdam, 9th ed., August 1999 * Mucznik, Sonia. �
''The Azulejos of Lisbon''
* Sabo, Rioleta; Falcato, Jorge. N. and photographs by Nicolas Lemonnier – ''Portuguese Decorative Tiles'', New York, London and Paris, 1998; * Barros Veloso, A. J.; Almasqué, Isabel – ''Portuguese Tiles and Art Nouveau / O Azulejo Portugués ea Arte Nova'', Edições Inapa, Portugal, 2000;

External links

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20131108091534/http://www.museudoazulejo.pt/en-GB/default.aspx National Azulejo Museum, Portugal
An illustrated history of the azulejo

The over-glaze decoration technique

(in Portuguese) {{Authority control Wallcoverings Types of pottery decoration Tiling Portuguese traditions