In Portugal, geometric tile art can be found everywhere! As far as I understand from different articles across the web, these tiles called Azulejos were introduced by Moors in southern Portugal. It is suggested that since people who follow the Sunni branch of Islam are not allowed to create images of 'living' things, you'll often see they make art with more or less geometric shapes. And since I love all things geometric, I really really love the colorful Azulejos you can find everywhere in Portugal, or in this case, Lisbon.
The tiles have seen some 'trends': from multi-colored to just blue and white (when blue and white art from China became popular), to colorful again. Different articles state different 'facts', but the tiles seem to be both decorative as well as functional since the tiles keep out damp from homes.
Although the tile art seems to be invented in Egypt, Portugal has been the country most consistently using them in and outside of buildings everywhere.
What to share on Steemit?
In any case - if you're ever in Portugal you will know you will never be able to document them all! I've taken a lot of pictures of them since I'm impressed by the number of different designs you can find. If I go back through my photo archives I will probably find even more, since I've been in Portugal two times before :-)
To give you an impression but also limit myself in sharing the designs, I decided to just upload the tiles I found on buildings of exactly one (1) street in Lisbon. It was a steep street (check the street view here), I walked down, and had to stop every two meters or so to take a picture. I've tried to include some extra details, like a curtain, electricity cables, to give the pictures some context.
The collection of Azulejos
Rua da Senhora da Gloria is the exact street you'll find these Azulejos:
[Just for you to comprehend how fronts of houses look like: doors and windows are 'free', the rest of the front of the buildings is covered in Azulejos. It's really damn pretty.]
[Electricity cables arranged in an arty fashion to match the patterns of the tiles?]
There are probably thousands of these Azulejos to be found in Lisbon alone. If you're ever in Lisbon and create your own collection don't forget to tag me, I'd love to see your founds! I truly believe no-one in the world will ever be able to see them all in their lifetime :-)
All pictures on steemit.com/@soyrosa are created and edited by me, Rosanne Dubbeld, 2005-2018. Contact me if you want to discuss licensing or collaborations on creative projects :-)