Have you heard of tiles? It is a common name in Portugal. The tiles are tiles, but they probably differ from most varieties you have seen.
The tiles are beautifully decorated terracotta tiles, created by an artist, which are covered with a thin layer of glass to protect them. They are then "baked" in a special oven or "oven", a process that guarantees a long service life. The mosaics show attractive geometric patterns and images of things like life on land and in the sea. Some show stories from ancient mythology.
In many parts of Portugal you can not go very far without finding land. They often appear as nameplates on the streets. Rua Alegre, which means "happy", "happy" or "busy street" is an example here in Lisbon. A hexagonal rectangular plate attached to a wall bears the name of the street. The two words are displayed centered on each other in an elegant blue font on a white background. A happy gold design intertwined with green leaves forms an edge around the outer edges of the rectangle. Two pink flowers adorn the upper corners.
The tiles are also displayed as door tiles and house numbers. The new and old houses are covered with decorative tiles. In the cities near Lisbon, it is common to see the picture of the head of the family's favorite weekend on an exterior wall of whitewashed houses, in tile. The tiles also find their eyes in the houses. You can think of them as a fireplace cover, a pot holder or a frame for mirrors and pictures.
Portuguese tiles have an ancient history. The name itself can make sense. While some trace their origin to azul, meaning "blue", others suggest that the Portuguese word evolved from an Arabic verb, zallaga, meaning "to be slippery and slippery". In the 14th century, Portugal imported artistic and colorful tiles from Andalusia to Spain, where both art and language had a strong Arabic or Arabic influence. The tiles from this period can be seen inside and outside the religious buildings in the cities of Córdoba and Seville. They are decorated in green, white, blue, black and cream and have intricate patterns of polygons and star shapes that are typical of the Hispano-Moorish style.
But Spain is not the only source of tiles. Many of these decorative tiles have oriental motifs similar to China. One hundred years ago, Portuguese explorers shopped in the municipality's delta. Impressed by the beauty of delicate Chinese porcelain, explorers took much of it to Lisbon. The Chinese loved to decorate porcelain with blue on white, a very common color palette for tiles here in Portugal. In the 17th century, the Dutch made a beautiful imitation of the Chinese product. Portugal was also quickly imported from the Netherlands. Our tiles are a monument to Portuguese art, but they have an ancient history that contains artistic features from other countries.
They are nice painting