Showing posts with label Portugal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Portugal. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Portugal's interesting art

Visiting a slew of the old castles, cathedrals, and temples in Portugal was truly amazing. Written above the chapel door of the bone ossuary in Evora was this message: "Nos ossos que aqui estamos, pelos vossos esperamos" or "We bones that are here, for your bones we wait."
Some of the interesting things I couldn't help but notice was some of the random art. This first winged creature was in a giant cathedral possibly in the Se de Lisboa cathedral, one of Losbon's oldest churches in Belem (a riverside precinct of Lisbon).
A Unicorn! I believe this and the rest are in the Alcazar in Seville.
 Bird-nuzzling-boobed-dude-animal?
 Sad, wrists-bound, dreaded hair-jester-angel-lady?
 I can't help but wonder what the story or inspiration for pieces of art like these are... and in some buildings, they would cover entire rooms with it. The final two tile pieces were just one small part of large wall murals. It is a wonderful thing to have to ponder while traveling... the art of a culture and it's history. 

Portugal, where art is underfoot

One of many personal notables about Portugal were the streets. They were pieces of art! Cobblestone pathways, roadways, walkways, anyways... they varied from downtrodden to immaculate. I was so impressed by the vision and pre-planning of it all, I decided to take these photos as a planned, themed project for the blog. Here it is...
 One thing I wish I could have captured is the size of these pieces... the ones above were about 12"x12". The octo-squid was about the size of an adult snow-angel...or larger.
 Portuguese Batman...?
 There was an entire sequence of astrological signs done in this form... here are Taurus and Pisces.
 One of many "regular" sidewalk designs...
 Here's for a bit of perspective...
 This continued over quite a distance... about the same as the photo above.
So, pretty much... Portugal rocks!