Azulejo
en.wikipedia.org98 points by Amorymeltzer 2 days ago
98 points by Amorymeltzer 2 days ago
Doing a little activism here: please don't buy old ones while visiting Portugal/Spain/etc., as they are commonly stolen goods. Thanks, from Lisbon.
I just googled it and apparently these are often chipped of historical buildings and sold as tourist souvenirs. Thanks for informing us
Indeed, it's sad. They are staple here in Portugal, covering entire buildings. Beautiful examples: https://maps.app.goo.gl/3BK1BoMVsgRY38eG8 and https://maps.app.goo.gl/fquP923g13xtbSxU8
I'll take advantage of your domain knowledge :) Where's the best place to find local artists that produce them?
Viúva de Lamego is not a "local" artist per se but they're a leading artisanal workshop in classic and contemporary Portuguese tiles. If you have the budget, their tailor-made tiles are something else, imagination is the limit. (source: my dad does a lot of house restorations in Portugal and some require custom tiles to fill in missing/damaged areas)
I would love to help, but it's not my domain. I, unfortunately, witness the side-effects of people stealing them on my day to day. There are many shops in Lisbon that sell them, and there's even a beautiful museum here that it's definitely worth visiting (or signing up for a workshop!): https://museunacionaldoazulejo.gov.pt - it's currently closed for renovation; it should reopen later this year, but that's yet to be confirmed.
When buying - on the streets or in a shop - if it looks old, unless provenance is absolutely clear, please don't.
In Spain, if you drive 1 h 20 minutes southwest of Madrid you get to Talavera de la Reina, which is a town all about ceramic and pottery:
Azul[0] is a great board game inspired by this style.
Easy to start, can get quite complex, heartily recommended!
I love it, still my favorite game after all those years, there is so much depth with such a simple mechanic.
Whenever I want to play with a game engine I reimplement a version of it
It really gets complex in a 4 player version and if also if you play thr version where the colors of the tiles are not set on the board. Fun game!!
Azulejos are still a staple in Brazilian architecture. It is a common wall covering in clean areas like bathrooms, kitchens, hospitals.
This is one of those words that can sound exotic, but for the locals would be so plain and uneventful to hear. Kinda like all the Japanese words being used for software project names on Github.
I assumed the word was derived from "azul" but from the article, it's apparently derived from the Arabic الزليج (al-zillīj) and has no relation with "azul"
Portuguese here - many Portuguese words have origin from Arabic as Portugal has been conquered and occupied by "the Moors" in 8th~13th century. That's a long time! Alentejo, Aljezur, Algarve, and many of the cities in the Southern part of the country have have Arabic origins.
So much so that the controversy over the use of “insha’Allah” by non-Muslims was missed by me, Portuguese has “oxalá”, and I could not understand the problem. It’s funny how many words we use in Portuguese and Spanish that have their origin in the Moorish time.
Some words also came into Portuguese from African slaves who were Muslim.
And also from the Lebanese who immigrated to Brazil in the XX century.
Arab Orthodox Christians have been saying "inshallah" longer than Muslims have been around.
interestingly, apparently "azul" also comes from the arabic "lāzuward"
I always thought it came from lapis lazuli (portuguese). Azul as a subpar of Lazuli even sounds exactly the same in portuguese.
Lapis Lazuli is cognate, both come from the same Arabic/Persian root. Apparently “azure”, “azul”, “azzurro” lost the L because it got confused with the common “l’” article,
And the word from arabic comes, for both of them comes from persian for hte term lapis lazuli (lāžward) and suposedly this comes from sanskrit... but I ignore how it may sound in sanskrit.
Is this related to a Forgejo
I've read somewhere Forgejo comes from esperanto.
You might have read that from their [faq](https://forgejo.org/faq/)
> Forgejo (pronounced /forˈd͡ʒe.jo/) is inspired by forĝejo, the Esperanto word for forge.
Also they are easier to clean in a bathroom/kitchen.
Annoying article in that sentence 2 mentions temperature control and that’s the last mention
I also wanted to see more about the temperature control aspect and was scanning the article for it. Some quick additional searching elsewhere turned up possible effects such as reflective surfaces, thermal mass, and moisture buffering.
More of direct experience instead of a scientific explanation, but it feels cold to the touch. I would guess it is related to thermal conductivity.