August 7th, 2010

Walking on Art in Portugal

by Melanie in Global Design Influences, Inspiration, Wedding Bells, World of Wonders

While pouring back over honeymoon photos to create a slideshow for our wedding reception (yes, I know, VERY backwards!) I came back across my lovely Portuguese pavement pictures, and thought they would be nice to share…Calcada Portuguesa is the art of combining small chiseled and polished pieces of white limestone and black basalt to create beautiful mosaic patterns on wide sidewalks and in stately piazzas. It began in Lisbon in 1849 with a wave design in Rossio Square (4th picture shown below) and soon spread throughout the other major cities of Portugal and even to the colonies. There are literally MILES of this amazing, hand crafted treatment throughout Portugal, and I wish I had shot photos of every one.  Here are but a few…

Lisbon-Pavement-4

Lisbon-Pavement-3

Lisbon-Pavement-2

Lisbon-Pavement-1

Lisbon-Pavement-5

As you might imagine, this is a painstaking process and a dying art form, but just one of the many delightful things about this small and special country.

One Response to “Walking on Art in Portugal”

  1. helen morris Says:
    August 8th, 2010 at 4:20 am

    Just beautiful.
    Years ago I cleared an area of garden with the idea of making a pebble mosaic based on stencil designs. Seeing theses pictures has inspired me to at least think about the mosaic garden again.
    It was great to host the class with you last month and hope that you returned safely.