PORTUGAL, LISBON: NATIONAL AZULEJO MUSEUM AND THE TIME OUT MARKET

 June 24, 2022

We had a little extra time before dinner and decided to visit something that was on our "B List" for Lisbon: the National Azulejo Museum. Azulejo is the Portuguese word for "tile," and as the word is used in Lisbon, it refers to a specific painted tin-glazed ceramic tile. Azulejos are everywhere in Portugal; in fact, they are probably the most iconic image of the country (at least for me). The Azulejo Museum houses one of the largest ceramics collections in the world.

If we make it back to Lisbon, I want to spend more time using the metro system. I've read that almost every station has a unique azulejo mural. 

The National Azulejo Museum was a nice blend of old and new. One of my favorite modern pieces is this whimsical blue bird with a terribly unimaginative name.

Wall Plate by Ellen Jensen (1977)

These are typical 18th century azulejos:

Gold framed azulejo: Devotional tile panel: Our Lady of Conception, St. Marcal,
St. Francis of Borjia, and Souls in Purgatory (1758)
Lower border azulejo: Ashlar with Hunting Scenes (c. 1740)

If you squint or step back from your screen, the amazing details of this woman's face magically appear:

Pebble Study by Rita João and Pedro Ferreira 
Made of discontinued industrial tiles (2018)

Another favorite.

Butterfly and Ears of Corn by Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro (c. 1905)

In addition to the tiles, there were other ceramic artworks, including this nativity scene with over 100 figures. (I'm a sucker for nativity scenes.)

Convent of Madre de Deus Crib, attributed to Dionísio and António Ferrerira

Close-up of The Holy Family

Two more of my favorites--Healing of a Blind Man from the early 18th century.

. . . and Flight into Egypt from the same period (attributed to Policarpo de Oliveira Bernardes, c. 1730).

The building that houses the museum used to be the Convent of Madre Deus, founded in 1509. It has gone through many renovations since then, but some of it looks very old. I especially love this multi-story center courtyard, which reminds me of the Alhambra.

Even the stairs are breathtaking--in a good way.

We detoured from the museum galleries to see St. Anthony's chapel, part of the original convent. It is stunning.

I have never seen as many bone fragment relics as we saw in Portugal. It's really a "thing" there.

Back to the museum. This beauty is from the 17th century.

Another stunner:

Our Lady of Life altarpiece c. 1580, attributed to Marçal de Matos

Here is a close up. Like I said, I am a sucker for nativity scenes. This one has crazy faces, and that Baby Jesus is bizarre. I love the cow pushing its head in between Joseph and Mary to get a better view.

I love these fragments of Islamic motifs, which remind me of my niece Lisa DeLong's art. 

This one caught me a bit off guard. Mickey in front of Lisbon's Castle of São Jorge?  That Mickey sure gets around! This very 20th century work was donated to the museum by The Walt Disney Company of Portugal.

We called an Uber to take us to dinner at the TimeOut Market, an upscale food court in a colossal hall. The driver, frustrated with the traffic (at 5:00 PM), detoured off the suggested route and added almost 15 minutes to the drive time that originally showed up in the app, but we did eventually arrive.

This food hall is a must-do if you are ever in Lisbon. It is the biggest and poshest food court I've ever seen. A huge room is ringed by 36 food booths operated by some of Portugal's top chefs and/or restaurants. Crowded seating fills the center, and it was jam-packed when we arrived at 5:45. 

We began our culinary indulgences with a delicious prosciutto and cheese sandwich from Mateigaria Silva.

Next up was octopus and sweet potato stew from Cozinha da Felicidade (which means "kitchen of happiness"). Not the very best octopus we had in Portugal, but still better than any octopus we have had in the United States.

Our third dish was delectable black pork cheeks and potatoes from Miguel Castro e Silva . . . 

. . . which we paired with an artichoke and sheep cheese salad from Henrique sá Pessoa.  

As we stumbled out of the market in a full-belly daze, we somehow thought it would be a good idea to have some dessert, so we stopped at Gelato Davvero where I got a cup of chocolate hazelnut and caramel gelato and Bob got strawberry and hazelnut.

After all that food, we should have walked to hotel, just under a mile away, or at the least walked to a metro stop, but no, we were in a food stupor and called an Uber, which got us back to the hotel for about $5.00. It was worth every penny.