Lisbon - Day 4 - Museo Nacional do Azulejo

Our day didn't finish in Sintra. We took an Uber (super cheap in Lisbon, we became Uber pros!) back to the city, and straight to our next museum. Portugal is known for their ceramic tiles, so I wanted to check out the Museo Nacional do Azulejo; situated in a 16-century convent.

The art of making ceramic tiles is a Moorish inheritance, much adapted, and a distinctive aspect of Portuguese culture. Glazed tiled pavements were used since 13th century, and in the early 16th century the use of azulejo as wall revetment was disseminated in Portugal. You still see them all over the city walls, in many different variations.

Azulejo comes from the Arab word azzelij, which means "small polished stone". It refers to a ceramic piece, usually squared, with one side glazed.

So many different moorish tiles with varied colour palettes, glazing techniques and geometric patterns.

Throughout 16th century, the Islamic motifs of knotwork and geometric patterns were gradually replaced by European motif. Italo-Flemish mannerist azulejos arrived in Portugal then, made with a new technique, the faience, which was what helped broaden the decorative possibilities.
However the use of Hispanic-Moorish techniques endured.

This small but stunning cloister is one of the few surviving features of the original convent.

Tiles, tiles, tiles, everywhere!

Included in the museum is a convent church, packed with paintings and also tile panels and gilt woodwork, dating from 17th and 18th century. The Church now started commissioning smaller panels with representations of saints and religious, symbolic or emblematic scenes; with compositions direcctly inspired by European engravings.

I really liked the part with more artistic (less geometric) tiles, like this image of Lisbon made in 1937 for the Portuguese Pavilion at the Paris World Expo.

Or this vast tiled panorama of Lisbon, 23 m long, showing the city's waterfront as it looked before the earthquake, around 1740.

This was called Variation of Rita Hayworth, an artwork from 2020.

Tiles in relief:

Selfie!

Day four was finished off with a dinner in a concept restaurant, they basically only served entrecôte with fries, and brasserie sauce. Reminded us of a restaurant we used to go to when we stayed in Toulouse. Yum!