The history of Portugal’s ground-breaking association with the seas spanned a hundred years from 1415-1515. Widely labelled as the Age of Discovery, this epoch-making period saw Portuguese navigators sail across uncharted seas to break out of the confines of Europe and … Read more
It is widely claimed that Portugal is the land of the azulejo painted tile and in no other country and by no other people has it been used on such a vast scale or in such an original way.
Looking upwards on a clear night, it’s difficult not to wonder how the heavens guided Portugal’s great discoverers towards new horizons in the late Middle Ages.
Portugal’s most acclaimed piece of art is the six-panelled 15th-century painting by Nuno Gonçalves depicting a group of 58 people assembled together as a monumental representation of both the Portuguese royal family and a cross-section of the country’s high society.
Although Portuguese architecture is said to have officially commenced with the start of the monarchy, there was already a large scattering of ancient buildings in existence all over the country, most notably the Visigoth temple of Balsemão, the Mozarab church of … Read more