Tile, what a story!

It is impossible to think of tiling art without thinking of the story behind each trait that gave rise to it or the purpose for which it was created.

Since the time it was brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Arabs at the time of the conquest, with the purpose of ornamenting the walls of their palaces, it has led our artisans and spaniards to surrender and take the Moorish technique, simplifying and adapting it. to the standards to western taste.

In 1560, they suggested in Lisbon, pottery workshops that produced tiles using the faience technique imported from Italy. To line the walls of palaces and churches. . Having the Portuguese used the first copies dating from the late 15th century.

The originality of the use of tile in Portugal and the dialogue it establishes with the other arts has made Portuguese Tile a unique case in the world.

The great panels that line the walls had and those that are currently produced have as a source of inspiration the decorative arts, textiles, goldsmithing, engravings and trips of the Portuguese to the east or places and places of some form mark who paints them, Scenographic compositions with geometric motifs, figurative and vegetal themes of an exotic fauna and flora, historical episodes, daily scenes, religious, mythological and even some satires, panels sometimes tell the family's history and even its social ascension depending on a lot. who produces and who orders it and is undoubtedly linked to the era and time it was and is produced, and there is always a concern to innovate.

From the nineteenth century, the tile gains greater visibility, leaving the palaces and churches to the facades of buildings, in close relationship with Architecture. At the moment it meets the population and it is possible to see tile entering the railway and subway stations that leads us to stop and read or think about the image we saw and identify something that connects us to historical facts, illustrious figures or phrases in which we stay. to reflect on its importance.

The tile is one of the most distinctive marks of what is Portuguese culture.

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