In a rich riot of colour and ornament, Portuguese Azulejos animate buildings and the public realm.Few things are as characteristic or expressive of Portuguese architecture as its painted ceramic tiles, or azulejos. The notion of covering walls, floors and even ceilings was originally introduced to the lberian peninsula by the Moors (azulejo azulejo Spanish and Portuguese glazed, polychromed tile produced from the 14th century. Introduced into Spain by the Arabs during the Moorish occupation, azulejos were used in Islamic architecture for facing walls and paving floors. originating from the Arabic al-zuleycha). From the start of the sixteenth century, as manufacturing techniques improved, Portugal started making its own highly distinctive tiles, synthesizing Islamic geometry. Chinese exoticism ex·ot·i·cism n. The quality or condition of being exotic. exoticism the condition of being foreign, striking, or unusual in color and design. — exoticist, n. and Dutch patternmaking patternmaking In materials processing, the first step in casting and molding processes, the making of an accurate model of the part, somewhat oversize to allow for shrinkage of the cast material as it cools. . The baroque era Noun 1. Baroque era - the historic period from about 1600 until 1750 when the baroque style of art, architecture, and music flourished in Europe Baroque, Baroque period witnessed a flowering of the tilemaker's art, with vivid colours and wide-ranging subject matter - religious scenes, plants, animals, people and landscapes - but the riotous polychromy pol·y·chro·my n. The use of many colors in decoration, especially in architecture and sculpture. polychromy the art of using many or various colors in painting, architecture, etc. of these was gradually overtaken by the more sober blue and white tiles that currently adorn so many Portuguese churches and public buildings. For over five centuries tiles have been the focus of constant artistic and technical innovation. There is even a tile museum in Lisbon - the Museu Nacional Museu Nacional means National Museum in Portuguese. The following museums have this denomination:
The grid plan dates from antiquity; some of the earliest planned cities were built using grids. after the 1755 earthquake, give some sense of the great diversity of colours and patterns. 'The azulejo is not a static heritage, but a living art', as Joao Castel-Branco Pereira, director of the Museu Nacional do Azulejo, observes. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] To this day, ceramic tiles are still used to cover and ornament the facades of buildings, as they are both durable and relatively cheap to produce. They have the curious effect of flattening out building surfaces, and you wonder slightly why contemporary architects, especially in Portugal and Spain, don't make more of the potential for adding colour or creating optical illusions. Those with a penchant for subverting materials could have fun; think what Herzog & de Meuron might get up to with a truckload of azulejos. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] |
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