Arruda dos Vinhos has an important Azulejo heritage that is spread across churches, civil buildings, and even its streets.
The term ‘Azulejo’ is etymologically derived from the Arabic Al Zulej or Az Zuleich, which means ‘smooth, polished stone’. The small ceramic tile, usually square and with one side glazed, is today a distinctive mark of Portuguese artistic culture. And although the Portuguese did not create this art, it was used uninterruptedly in the country for more than five centuries, not only as a decorative and architectural ornament, but also as an artistic object, marking urbanity through interior and exterior tile coverings, namely in palaces, churches, and other buildings.
The Azulejo Circuit is a pleasant journey through three centuries of azulejo history in three different environments: from the lush gardens, interiors, and chapel of the Morgado Palace, now the Irene Lisboa Municipal Library, to the vast collection of azulejaria in the Church of Our Lady of Salvation — Mother Church of Arruda dos Vinhos.
This temple features a remarkable collection of azulejos, combining them majestically with carvings and paintings.
It begins with 16th century patterns, contrasted with the narrative and monumentality that identifies blue and white tiles and coexisting with the Rococo and Pombaline periods, in a variety of colours. The walls of the naves are covered in various mythological and biblical tiles. Of particular note are the diamond-point and maçaroca (‘cob’) pattern tiles and the two rectangular figurative panels St Christopher and Perseus and Andromeda. Decorating the walls of the chancel are the Sacrifice of Abraham and Scala Coeli panels.
The chapel of the Blessed Sacrament preserves a veritable showcase of rococo azulejos, displaying scenes from the life of St Francis of Assisi. In the corridor communicating with the sacristy we find Pombaline pattern azulejos.
Occupying a third of the façade of the Morgado Palace, the adjacent chapel communicates with the interior and exterior of the architectural complex. With a single nave and altar, the access to the public road bears the date 1781 and was dedicated to St Domingos de Gusmão. It is believed that there was once an image of this saint in the chapel, as well as a canvas of this hagiographic iconography.
With access to the sacristy, the chapel has a communicating staircase with the noble floor. The Tribune Room, a space for social representation, allows a glimpse through the Noble Tribune to the nave walls lined with 18th century blue and white azulejos with Marian emblems. Inside the palace, you can see azulejos with polychrome and marbled paintings in the D. Maria I style.
Come and discover the charm of the small square of glazed clay and let yourself be enveloped by the history that the Azulejo has to tell.
