This is a craft that is in daily use in Portugal whether for house and road signs, public notices (sometimes warning against stealing them) or for advertising a business. It will have started as a way of keeping a building cool and clean but developed into an art form in itself. It’s similar to mosaic work but with essential differences.

Portuguese delight in them grew out of a dynastic marriage between Manuel I and Isabella of Aragon in 1503 when he filled the rooms of the palace at Sintra with azulejos to make her feel at home. They had a boost around 1700 when largely blue-and-white designs became fashionable, sometimes with whole buildings covered with them such at St Catherine’s in Porto.

Azulejos are now so valued in Portugal that a law was passed in 2017 to prevent demolish of buildings with significant numbers of tiles in or on them.