Bisalhães (black pottery)
The black pottery of Bisalhães, a craft UNESCO lists as needing urgent safeguarding.
What we have checked
- The Bisalhães black pottery manufacturing process was inscribed in 2016 on UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding (not the Representative List). Source
- Clay is crushed with a wooden hammer in a stone tank, sifted, mixed with water and kneaded. Pieces are shaped with laths and smoothed with pebbles; women mainly decorate them with a stick. Source
- UNESCO’s decision cites a diminishing number of bearers, competition from industrial products and waning interest among young people. Source
Read the essay: Black pottery, and the question of the colour →
What to look for
Black, handmade household pottery. The UNESCO page does not say how the black colour is obtained, so we do not either. The map pin is approximate: UNESCO does not name the municipality, and we placed it near Vila Real from secondary sources.
Plates
