Prezentation Turkey

1. AZULEJOS”
THE VİSUAL ART OF
PORTUGAL

2. SHARE MY EMOTİONS”
THE MOST SUCCESSFUL WAY OF
LEARNING THROUGH SPORT, ART,
DANCE, MUSIC AND FOREIGN
LANGUAGES

3. 10 THINGS
YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT
THE PORTUGUESE AZULEJO TILES

4. Even though it’s an undeniable symbol of Portugal, a lot still
remains unknown about this ancient art. Here’s a few
curiosities about this craft art to add to your general
knowledge.

5. 1. The word azulejo comes from the arabic word “azzelij” that
basicallymeans “small polished stoned”, used by muslims to
design mosaics. Themeaning remains fairly the same as we
consider an azulejo to be aceramic piece, generally square
shaped, where one of the sides is glazed.

6. 2. The azulejos entered the lives of the portuguese in 1498,
when KingManuel paid a visit to Seville in Spainwhen King
Manuel I paid a visit toSeville and was delighted by the shiny
tiles around the city. He decided tobring this glowy art to
Portugal and used it to decorate the walls of hiscastle: the Sintra
National Palace.

7. 3. Do you know why tiles are usually white and blue? Ever
since Europestarted its trading relationship with Asia, that
europeans were fascinatedwith the elegance and fine touch of
Chinese porcelain. It was difficult tomanufacture because it
used an ingredient that didn’t exist in Europe atthe time,
becoming a luxury object of great rarity and a symbol of
wealthfor the locals. In the seventeenth century, in an attempt
to copy it, theDutch began making tiles in the same blue and
white tones as Chineseporcelain. The tiles pleased the
Portuguese so much that massive importswere ordered from
the Netherlands to decorate the Portuguese buildings.

8. 4. Worried about the huge amount of imports from abroad, the
Portuguesegave rise to a remarkable movement in the history of
azulejo tiles inPortugal, the “Ciclo dos Mestres” (the cycle of
masters). They start to hirerenowned painters to design works in
this format and begin to manufactureon a large scale. It is at this
time that tile painters finally gain the status of“artists” by creating
original pieces and signing their works.

9. 5. Tiles are mostly used today for aesthetic reasons, but
initially this wasnot their primary purpose: their waterproof
glazed surface helps protect thewalls of the house from
damp and low temperatures. They were thereforeused in wet
areas such as bathrooms and kitchens for their low cost
anddurability.

10. 6. Tiles are the oldest form of "comic books" in
Portugal. Sometimes evenwith captions below, the churches
used them as a way of telling storiesabout saints and describing
biblical moments, as books were a privilege towhich few had
access.

11. 8. Sant’Anna is the oldest tile factory in Portugal and it’s still
operating! Being able to withstand Lisbon’s great earthquake
in 1755, it has existedin the city since 1741 and still uses the
handcrafted techniques of the olddays. Today, more than 90%
of its production is sent abroad.

12. 8. After the great Lisbon earthquake, the city was left in ruins and
wasthen “invaded” by tiles. In the reconstruction of the city, instead
of orderingoriginal art works, tiles with repetitive geometric
patterns were used,, sothat the work was as fast and cheap as
possible. These tiles becameknown as “Pombalinos”, with a clear
reference to Marquês de Pombal, theperson mainly responsible for
the reconstruction of the city.

13. 9. Tiles have reinvented themselves over time and with each
architecturalstyle, so each tells a different story. How can we
interpret them? Forexample, older Moorish-inspired tiles often
have exaggerated weaving andcomplex geometric patterns,
characterized by the typical Moorish horrorvacui. If we look at a
gothic-style tile, the animal and nature figures reign.During the
Renaissance period, born in Florence, symmetries andproportions
started being appreciated, and the designs were endowed withgreat
delicacy. If we look at the Baroque period, the tiles began to
becrafted in an increasingly theatrical and exuberant way, depicting
scenesfrom the portuguese Discoveries period and daily life,
allegories andbiblical episodes.

14. 10. Since they’re not unique from our region, tiles are used in
manycountries around the world, such as Spain, Italy, Turkey
and Morocco.Still, Portugal is the World Tile Capital for a
special reason: tiles havebeen used on our facades and
buildings for over 500 years, withoutinterruption. It has
survived the test of time, remaining an important meansof
artistic expression to this day.