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Unfortunately there are only a few examples of the
earliest examples of
Azulejos still
in existence. The interior of
Coimbra's
Se Velha (Old Cathedral) is one with the floor of the
chapel in the Royal Palace at
Sintra
being the most complete.
Traditionally the tiles, which were an expression of
wealth and only the most affluent could afford to adorn
their homes and palaces with such exquisite art forms.
patterns but as tastes changed and influences from other
countries were added so did designs. By the middle
of the 17th century new methods of glazing allowed the
tile centres in Portugal to produce more elaborate,
expressive design, representing scenes of the clients'
estates, palaces and manor houses.
During
the 19th century it became popular to decorate the
facades of buildings with these tiles with scenes
depicting commerce being displayed on shop fronts,
particularly in the Bairro Alto district of Lisbon.
However by the time the 20th century turned, the demand
for commissions of large scale freezes dropped off,
perhaps due to the instability of the country's
government and monarchy.
Today
there are still small craft centres who painstakingly
reproduce tiled freezes and individual commissions to
order with glazers carefully and delicately painting
elaborate scenes, or course in the now more common blue
and white format.
However
these tiled freezes, made to order can be expensive,
sometimes running into thousands of Euros, depending
upon the complexity of the design and the size of the
freeze. Though if these are too rich for your budget why
not adorn your Portuguese property with hand painted
house numbers as these are off the shelf and come in a
variety of designs to suit tastes and of course the all
important budget. |
