One of the first things I noticed about the architectural beauty in Lisbon was the tiles adorning the exterior of the buildings. The tiles cover homes, churches, various monuments, Metro stations, and are even sometimes arranged to display a mural. I spent a lot of time appreciating their beauty and snapping photos to send home to my family. I noticed that you could even buy hand-painted tiles in souvenir shops to take home.

During one of our days off from class, I took a trip to Sintra with some friends and toured Pena Palace. Sintra is an area of Portugal known for its historic castles and palaces; this palace, specifically, may be more recognized for its inhabitance by former King Ferdinand. While touring, I could not help but notice the tiles were both indoors and outdoors. We learned that the tiles were traditionally neutral tones, but blue, as seen in the photo I shared, represents power and wealth.

On the last full day of activities during the study abroad program, all the students and professors went to a tile museum in Lisbon, the Museu Nacional do Azulejo. We had an hour to design and paint a tile that would be fired in a kiln for us to take home. My friends and I opted to use stencils, rather than using our own creativity. Following the tile painting class, we then had the freedom to explore the museum at our own pace.

The museum explained the tile-making processes and displayed various tile arrangements, some of which dated back to the fifteenth century. We learned that the tiles represent the Portuguese people’s imagination and history. The tiles I have been seeing since I arrived are evidence of the city’s age and date back to the fifteenth century when a former king wanted to bring in this art form he was impressed by. It has been humbling being surrounded by something so seemingly small that represents a long history in Portugal. It fascinates me that the tiles have continued to remain prevalent in Portugal’s culture and society even though they were introduced centuries ago.