The Museu Nacional do Azulejo ( Portuguese for National Museum of the Azulejo), occasionally known in English as the National Tile Museum, is an

art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own Collection (artwork), collection. It might be in public or private ownership, be accessible to all, or have restrictions in place. Although ...

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

dedicated to the

azulejo (, ; from the Arabic ) is a form of Portuguese and Spanish painted Tin-glazing, tin-glazed ceramic tilework. ''Azulejos'' are found on the interior and exterior of church (building), churches, palaces, ordinary houses, schools, and nowadays, r ...

, traditional tilework of

and the former

Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire was a colonial empire that existed between 1415 and 1999. In conjunction with the Spanish Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It achieved a global scale, controlling vast portions of the Americas, Africa ...

, as well as of other Iberophone cultures. Housed in the former Madre de Deus Convent, the museum's collection is one of the largest of ceramics in the world.

History

The National Tile Museum was established in 1965 and became a National Museum in 1980. It is located in the former Convent of Madre Deus, founded by Queen D. Leonor in 1509. The Museum went through different building campaigns that involved transformations such as in its 16th-century mannerist cloister; the church which is decorated with remarkable sets of paintings and tiles; the sacristy featuring a Brazilian wood display cabinet and carved wood frames with paintings; the high choir with rich carved gilt wood embellishments; the Chapel of Saint Anthony with an 18th-century Baroque decoration and a significant number of canvases by the painter André Gonçalves.

Collection

The museum collection features decorative ceramic tiles or azulejos from the second half of the 15th century to the present day. Besides tiles, it includes ceramics, porcelain and faience from the 19th to the 20th century. Its permanent exhibition starts with a display of the materials and techniques used for manufacturing tiles. After this the exhibition route follows a chronological order.

Permanent exhibition

The permanent exhibition of the museum is displayed in the rooms of ancient monastery and shows the history of tile heritage in

from 16th century until the modern times. The church, the chapels of Saint Anthony and Queen Leonor, and the choir are parts of this exhibition as well. File:Azulejo December 2012-3.jpg, 17th century panel. File:Azulejo-Museum1.jpg, ''Nossa Senhora da Vida retabule''; 16th century. File:Terreiro do Paço Lisboa.jpg, ''Great View of Lisbon''; c. 1700. File:Hunting Room (Lisbon, 1680) - Named "Hunting Room" from the scenes represented in the panels animals chasing each other (29658298078).jpg, ''The Hunting Room''; 1680. File:Alegoria Eucarística - Lisboa, c. 1660, proveniente do antigo Convento de Sant'Ana (MNAz inv. 161 Az).png, ''Eucharistic Allegory''; c. 1660. File:Lisboa em1018 2073110 (40166840992).jpg, 18th century panel.

Temporary exhibitions

A number of exhibitions are displayed in the museum for a certain period, as "The Art of Tiles in Portugal" in 2000, "Ana Vilela tells her stories about tiles" in 2008, "Me and the Museum" in 2016,"From the Shadows of Kyoto to the Light of Lisbon" in 2017.

References

External links

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National Tile Museum

National Azulejo Museum
on

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