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01 5 essays
Tiles
Five centuries of glazed squares: where the technique came from, how a tile is made, and how they ended up on every street.
- 01 From alicatado to azulejo: how Moorish tilework reached PortugalIn 1508 a record shows 10,146 tiles arriving at Sintra. Where they were made, and where the word “azulejo” comes from, are both still argued.
- 02 Why Portuguese tiles turned blue and whiteChinese porcelain, Dutch painters on Portuguese commission and a local answer by named masters: what the museums and a Lisbon master’s report say about the switch to cobalt.
- 03 After the earthquake: a royal factory and the pattern tileAfter 1755 Lisbon needed tiles that were quick and cheap. A royal factory, a pattern named for a minister, and a question mark on a museum label.
- 04 Tiles in the street: from the factory sample book to the metroFaçade tiles, an Art Nouveau bakery, a station hall in Porto and a metro station in Lisbon. How Portugal’s tiles came outdoors and what is happening to them now.
- 05 A surface that drinks the paint: how a hand-painted tile is madeFire the clay, dip it in white glaze, paint on the dry glaze, fire again. Each step is simple, and none can be undone.