The Tile

Those who know and visit our country cannot remain indifferent to Portuguese tiles. They decorate buildings, are present in churches and monuments, on the floor, and in decorative pieces. After all, how did tiles become part of Portuguese culture?

The name comes from Arabic and has already been produced in our country for 500 years, making it a unique case as a decorative element.

The art of tile-making took root in the Iberian Peninsula under the influence of the Arabs, who brought these unfamiliar mosaics to decorate the walls of their palaces, giving them an extraordinary brilliance. They adapted the mosaics to our reality and culture, and that's how the well-known Portuguese tiles were born.

It was during a trip to Granada that King Manuel fell in love with tiles and brought them to Portugal. The first tiles decorated the National Palace of Sintra, which was the king's residence.

In 1560, 70 years later, workshops producing tiles began to appear in Lisbon using the technique imported from Italy. Portuguese artists drew inspiration from Italian ceramics for their tile paintings.

Do you know why most tiles are blue?

When trade began with the East, Europeans were fascinated by the elegance of Chinese porcelain. The ingredients for making this porcelain did not yet exist in Europe, making it very difficult to produce and therefore highly valuable. In the 17th century, in an attempt to imitate this technique, the Dutch began making tiles in the same blue and white tones. These tiles pleased the Portuguese so much that they ordered numerous panels to decorate Portuguese facades.

Tiles became a symbol of ostentation. Thus, the new tile industry flourished with orders from the nobility and clergy. Large panels were manufactured to adorn the walls of buildings, churches, palaces, convents, and more. Inspiration for creating these tiles came from decorative arts, travels, and Portuguese conquests. The most popular themes for decorating buildings were military campaigns, historical events, scenes of daily life, religious depictions, among others. It was up to the potters to fulfill these orders, copying the models and adapting them to the realities of those who purchased them. By the end of the 17th century, this art form had become faster, with entire families involved, and it was during this time that the first painters began to establish themselves as artists, signing their works.

After the 1755 earthquake and the reconstruction of Lisbon, the production of standard tiles, now known as 'Pombalinos,' increased as they were used to decorate new buildings that had been destroyed. Tiles were mass-produced using a combination of industrial and artisanal techniques.

In the 19th century, tiles were no longer the exclusive domain of the nobility and clergy; they began to appear on the facades of more ordinary buildings. The urban landscape lit up with the reflected light from glazed surfaces. In the 20th century, tiles were used to decorate train stations and the metro. Later on, they found their way into Portuguese homes, used in bathrooms and kitchens, as decorative elements as we know them today.

Curiosities:

• Currently, tiles are known mainly for their aesthetic motifs, but it was not always like this. When they first appeared, they were used to protect homes from humidity due to their waterproof glazed surface. As a result, they were widely used in wet areas due to their low cost and durability.

• Portugal is the Tile Capital of the World, even though tiles are used in other countries. Tiles have been used in Portugal for more than 500 years without interruption. They have survived time and modernity, remaining an important means of artistic expression.

• Portugal's oldest tile factory still operates and is called Sant'Anna. It has been in the capital since 1741 and now dedicates 90% of its production to foreign markets.

• Tiles are the oldest form of "comic strips" in our country. The clergy used them to depict biblical moments since books were not accessible to the entire population.