An exhibit at the wonderful Tile Museum shows how tiles are created.

Sample tiles. Tile-making in Portugal became increasinglyimportant from the 15th century.

tile wall

At the tile museum

From the early 1500s. This looks like an ear of maize to me.

At the tile museum

A coat of arms in tile

Another coat of arms. This one looks a little mis-matched to me because of the single arm on the right.

Daphne being turned into a laurel tree.

A nativity scene.

Detail from the Nativity Scene.

Fierce

At the tile museum

Courtyard of the tile museum. The museum is housed in what used to be the Convent of Madre de Deus.

The courtyard could use some maintenance

Detail of the roof of the museum

I don'tknow if the tower has a function or not. Was it once a chimneyor a bell tower?

The blue color is typical of Portugues tiles.

Some of the tile compositions are quite complex. It must be very difficult to get everything to line up properly.

These tiles seem to have a good bit of depth.