Azulejos: why Portugal’s buildings are covered in tile

Stand in a Lisbon street and look at the walls instead of the pavement: whole facades are clad in glazed ceramic tile, in blue, yellow, green and patterns that repeat like wallpaper. These are azulejos, and Portugal uses them on churches, palaces, train stations, kitchens and metro platforms.

The short answer to the title: Portugal learned the craft from Moorish Spain, adopted it at the royal court in the early 1500s, and kept going for five centuries because the tiles did real work on a wall and carried images people wanted to see. The word looks like azul, the Portuguese for blue, but it comes from the Arabic al-zillīj, a term for polished stone.

From Arabic mosaic to Iberian tile

According to Wikipedia, the word azulejo is derived from the Arabic al-zillīj (zellij), “polished stone”, because the original idea was to imitate Byzantine and Roman mosaics. In Portuguese and Spanish, azulejo is also the everyday word for any tile, plain or painted.

The earliest azulejos, in the 13th century, were panels of tile mosaic in the Islamic tradition: tiles glazed in a single colour, cut into geometric shapes and assembled into patterns. Seville became the main centre of this Hispano-Moresque tile industry, and the Alhambra in Granada holds many examples. Later techniques made tiles faster to produce. In the cuenca or arista method, a mould pressed into the unbaked clay left thin ridges that kept the glaze colours from running together, which suited mass production.

Azulejos were also practical. Wikipedia notes that they helped with temperature control in homes, a useful property in a country with hot summers.

How the craft reached Portugal

King Manuel I brought the technique to Portugal after a visit to Seville in 1503, according to the same source. One of the best-known results is the Arab Room of the Sintra National Palace, which includes tiles decorated with the armillary sphere, Manuel’s emblem. The Portuguese took on the Moorish habit of horror vacui, the fear of empty spaces, and covered walls completely.

For decades Portugal still imported most of its tiles, mainly from Spain and, in smaller numbers, from Antwerp. The first dated Portuguese azulejo composition is the Miracle of St. Roque, from 1584, in the Church of São Roque in Lisbon, by Francisco de Matos.

Why they turned blue and white

In the 17th century Portuguese workshops produced “carpet” compositions, large fields of repeating tiles framed by borders, in great numbers. Some altar fronts were tiled to imitate fabric, with yellow motifs standing in for golden fringes. Wikipedia says the use of azulejos for altar fronts is typical of Portugal.

The colour change came from the Netherlands. In the second half of the 17th century, the Spanish artist Gabriel del Barco y Minusca introduced blue-and-white tiles in the style of Delft. Workshops in Amsterdam made large panels with historical scenes for rich Portuguese clients. When King Peter II stopped imports of azulejos between 1687 and 1698, Barco’s workshop took over production. The last major Dutch delivery arrived in 1715, and after that Portuguese artists, many of them academically trained, made large figurative panels in blue and white at home.

The golden age and the earthquake

The late 17th and early 18th centuries are called the Golden Age of the Azulejo. Mass production grew with demand at home and with large orders from Brazil. Churches, monasteries, palaces and ordinary houses were covered inside and outside, many with Baroque scenes. This is the era of the figuras de convite, “invitation figures”: cut-out panels of life-size footmen, soldiers and elegant ladies placed at entrances and on landings to welcome visitors. According to Wikipedia, they are found only in Portugal.

After the 1755 earthquake, rebuilding Lisbon under the Marquis of Pombal brought a plainer, more functional use of tile. Small devotional panels began to appear on buildings as protection against future disasters.

Across the ocean and into the metro

The tiles crossed the Atlantic with the Portuguese. São Luís, in the Brazilian state of Maranhão, keeps the largest urban concentration of 18th- and 19th-century azulejos in Latin America, and its historic centre became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. The city is nicknamed Cidade dos Azulejos, the city of tiles.

Back in Portugal, the 19th century added a new fashion. Around 1840, Brazilians who had returned to Portugal started industrial production in Porto, and the Portuguese took up the Brazilian habit of tiling house facades. In the 20th century, the vestibule of São Bento railway station in Porto was decorated with about 20,000 azulejos by Jorge Colaço, with historical scenes. And in Lisbon, the painter Maria Keil designed large abstract panels for the first nineteen metro stations, between 1957 and 1972, helping to revive an art form that had declined. Tile is present in almost every station of the Lisbon metro today.

A crime to take them

Because the tiles sit on old buildings that are often neglected, they are easy to steal. Wikipedia cites estimates by authorities that 25% of the artistic tiles in Lisbon were lost between 1980 and 2000. Portugal responded with several measures:

• SOS Azulejo, created in 2007 and run with the Polícia Judiciária, focused on controlling the sale of old tiles at street fairs and on the black market. The source credits it with a drop of around 80% in theft and vandalism between its start and 2013.
• Banco do Azulejo, Lisbon’s tile bank, stores around 30,000 tiles from demolished or condemned buildings and from donations, and similar projects exist in Aveiro, Porto and Ovar.
• Laws: since 2013 it has been illegal to demolish buildings with tile-covered facades, and an August 2017 law also bans removing tiles during renovation, even inside.

In practice

• Look up, and look at the walls. Facades in Lisbon and Porto are the main gallery. São Bento station in Porto is free to walk into.
• Ride the Lisbon metro with a few minutes to spare at stations with large panels, such as Intendente, which Wikipedia describes as a masterpiece of contemporary tile art.
• Do not buy old tiles at flea markets. Part of that trade is stolen, and many buyers are tourists. New tiles from a workshop with a receipt are the safe souvenir.
• Never pry or chip a tile off a wall, even a loose one. It is damage to protected heritage.
• Visit the Museu Nacional do Azulejo in Lisbon if you want the whole history in one place. Check its official page for hours and prices before you go.

Portugal’s other famous street surface works on the same logic of pattern and craft: see the stone pavement of Lisbon.

The same story shows up on every continent the Portuguese reached, from Brazil to Macau. A wall of tile is a good record of where a country traded and who it admired.

Frequently asked questions

What does azulejo mean?

It is the Portuguese and Spanish word for tile. It comes from the Arabic al-zillīj, “polished stone”, not from azul, blue.

When did azulejos arrive in Portugal?

According to Wikipedia, King Manuel I brought the technique from Seville after a visit in 1503.

Why are many azulejos blue and white?

Blue-and-white tiles in the style of Delft arrived in the second half of the 17th century. When imports were stopped between 1687 and 1698, Portuguese workshops took over and the blue-and-white look stayed.

Is it illegal to remove old tiles?

Since 2013 it has been illegal to demolish buildings with tile-covered facades in Portugal, and an August 2017 law also prohibits removing tiles during renovations, including inside.

Sources

• Azulejo, Wikipedia: etymology, Seville and the Alhambra, Manuel I in 1503, the Miracle of St. Roque in 1584, Delft influence and the 1687 to 1698 import ban, the 1755 earthquake, São Luís, Porto in 1840, São Bento, Maria Keil and the Lisbon metro, SOS Azulejo, the tile bank and the 2013 and 2017 laws. Confirm laws and figures with Portuguese authorities before any formal use.
• Historic Centre of São Luís, UNESCO World Heritage Centre: listing of the historic centre of São Luís in 1997.