These Tiles Will Give You A Natural High - A Visit To The Lisbon Azulejos Museum
We ( I mean me .. Jürgen) can't be the only ones who have a tiles addiction. If I see tiles and I just can't walk by without taking a picture or two. I think this all started during our time in Istanbul. And I don't know why we ended up in Valencia, making it our home. It probably has nothing to do with the city's famous tiles. The below article was published first on our Lisbon Travel Blog!
One of Lisbon’s most popular museums is the Museu Nacional do Azulejo, which introduces visitors to the history of Portuguese tiles within the confines of 16th century convent. Tiles feature in just about every one of our pictures of Lisbon, so we were excited to learn more about them.
You wouldn’t think that “tiles” would be a topic which sparks so much interest, but this museum is weirdly popular. It might be the proximity to the cruise ship port, or the fact that it was the holiday season… or possibly, we were just underestimating the appeal of tiles… but the size of the crowd on-hand at the Museu Nacional do Azulejo was really astounding.
But the crowds didn’t ruin the experience for us. This museum is excellent and surprisingly large, spread across three floors of the beautiful Convent de Madre Deus. We appreciated the regular museum-type displays, which follow the history of Portuguese azulejos from their Moorish origins, through to Seville and Spain, and into the more modern and abstract designs of today. Even better than these exhibits, though, were the rooms of the convent itself, which have largely been left in their original condition.
It’s no coincidence that this convent was chosen as the site for the museum. The tiles covering its walls are stunning… I’m not implying that the curators are lazy, but this museum was halfway done before they even set up the first exhibits! There’s a lot to see, including the Hunting Room, a small cloister, the chapel in which Queen Leonor I prayed, an unbelievable mural of Lisbon over 22 meters in length, and a 16th-century church gorgeously decorated with both tiles and paintings.
Although we enjoyed our visit, something was nagging at us. It seemed somehow silly to pay entrance to a tile museum in Lisbon, which could itself be considered a city-sized tile museum! Azulejos feature in almost every church, and on the facades of most of the buildings. Even if you skip this Museu Nacional do Azulejo, tiles are going to be a big part of your Lisbon experience.
Some more photos of the the Azulejos Museum in Lisbon:
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LOL, when I saw the title of your post I thought this:
"AH, I should visit this next time I'm in Lisbon!"
Then:
"But WHY really? I've seen so many tiles on the streets, would a museum really add something?"
Did it? Did it add something? Or is that why something kept 'nagging' you? The museum isn't really better than the streets? ;-)
Of course in the museum you'll get to see ancient tiles you won't find in the streets and the convent is beautiful BUT ... I loved discovering new tiles pattern while roaming the streets and was super excited when I found a new one.
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Nicely done post and an interesting read indeed. Love getting 'tips' like these, I can be better prepared and know beforehand what to look at if I ever visit :) thanks! I beleive somewhat similiar patterns on tiles are in fashion in the nordic countries today.
Do you have an example what you mean about those Nordic patterns, would love to see them. Thank you for stopping by!!!
Amazing pictures I also like tiles and for some reason the most beautiful and old ones can be found in Catholic Churches in Costa Rica. I guess they just wanted to make the space look prettier and nice. They stand better earthquakes than wood or ceramic and seems like couple scratches just add this rustic or old cool look. Thanks for sharing :D
Another reason why they used tiles in Lisbon to decorate the inside ... in the winter the humidity is so high, wallpaper would just roll down .... they wouldn't stick :)
I see woow same here usually humidity is around 70-90 %.
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"I think this all started during our time in Istanbul. And I don't know why we ended up in Valencia, making it our home." <--Lol! I love this. This is exactly how the best experiences happen. You just somehow end up there.
The tiles and architecture are so beautiful! Kind of reminds me of the talavera in Puebla, Mexico. You take such great pictures. Really interesting angles on some of these
We have so many different tiles to discover in our future travels. So excited :) Thank you for stopping by and for your compliment.
Wow, great contribution!
It is always amazing to see how much detailed craftsmanship is in such historic buildings. Thanks for the great impressions!
You're welcome .. we actually visited a tiles workshop in Lisbon documenting how they actually paint these amazing pieces. Stay tuned for a post.
Always something new to learn from your posts ! Thanks for sharing
Thank you for letting us know ... after FB we're not used to hear from people back, they might read the excerpt or a thumbs up BUT we felt like nobody is actually reading our articles on our blog. Comments like yours gives us so much more encouragement.
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Hiya, just swinging by to let you know that this post made the Honorable Mentions list in today's Travel Digest!