Gaping holes on the crumbling walls of an abandoned palace in the heart of Lisbon mark where decorative ceramic tiles have been yanked off, to the displeasure of passing tourists.
Thieves are swiping the elaborately painted tiles, which cover buildings across Portugal, to sell them on the black market. Just one of these tiles, called azulejos, can fetch thousands of euros.
Abandoned buildings like the 17th century Pombal Palace, are especially vulnerable.
Photo: AFP
This was once the family home of the Marquis de Pombal, the statesman who rebuilt Lisbon after a massive earthquake devastated the city in 1755. Owned by Lisbon’s cash-strapped city hall for the last five decades, it has fallen into ruin due to lack of maintenance.
Since a cultural association, Carpe Diem, moved out at the end of last month, the palace has been empty.
“SOS Azulejo,” a project set up by police in 2007 to stop antique dealers from selling stolen Portuguese tiles, includes it on its list of “high risk” buildings.
Photo: AFP
Tile thefts have plunged by 80 percent since the project was set up, said Leonor Sa, the head of Portugal’s police museum, which displays recovered stolen tiles, adding that a huge amount of thefts go unreported.
“The Portuguese do not file complaints because for them they are the most banal thing in the world. They live surrounded by tiles since their birth until their death,” Sa said. “Foreign tourists who discover these ceramics love them because they don’t have them at home.”
Sa, who has a doctorate in cultural studies, gave birth to her two daughters, Rita and Joana, at a Lisbon hospital decorated in azulejos, where she herself was born 59 years ago.
Azulejos first came to Portugal in the early middle ages when Portugal was under Moorish rule. Although many assume the word is a derivation of azul — Portuguese for “blue,” the color of most tiles — the word is Arabic in origin and comes from az-zulayj, which roughly translates as “polished stone.”
Disgusted at the loss of this unique Portuguese treasure, Sa set up Web site, www.sosazulejo.com, that displays photographs of tiles stolen from churches, hospitals, train stations and other buildings.
It makes it easy to check if a tile on sale at a street market or antique dealer was stolen.
“It’s very dissuasive,” said Sa, who is full of energy and has an intense gaze.
Tile thefts reached peaks of around 10,000 per year in 2001, 2002 and 2006 but “now there are significantly fewer” thefts, she said.
Since 2013 it is illegal in Lisbon to demolish a facade decorated with tiles without the authorization of city officials. Parliament plans to extend the rule to the entire country shortly.
At Lisbon’s rambling Feira da Ladra flea market, or “Thieves’ Market,” old azulejos are on sale for between 5 euros and 100 euros (US$5.90 and US$118).
A giant 18th-century panel made up of brown, gold and green tiles depicting exotic animals and flowers was on sale for 500 euros.
Prices at antique dealers can go even higher, with some azulejos fetching up to 10,000 euros.
Anne Typhagne, a 43-year-old French tour guide, lingers before a display of tiles at the flea market which overlooks the Tagus River.
“Before I bought a lot of them, then I stopped because I am against the theft of Portugal’s heritage,” she said.
Police inspections of tile vendors at the market are frequent.
“When they come, I show all the papers. I sell, I don’t steal,” said Maria Santos, 28, whose small stand teems with ceramic tiles from the 18th and 19th centuries.
While some tiles are recovered from building demolitions, Santos said “often, we don’t really know where they come from.”
Oscar Pinto, the head of the national police division dedicated to crimes involving art, said the majority of tiles that are sold have a “legitimate” origin.
“Sometimes it is the landlords themselves that get rid of them to renovate their homes,” he said at his sparsely decorated office. “But let’s not kid ourselves. A drug addict who sells you 20 azulejos in a plastic bag at 1 euro a piece, there is a strong chance that it was a theft.”
Pinto had gone to the flea market the day before to try, in vain, to recover more than 1,000 18th-century ceramic tiles pulled down overnight from an abandoned building in Lisbon’s riverside Baixa district.
The Portuguese capital’s tourism boom “could contribute to an upsurge in thefts,” he said.
Ceramics maker Cristina Pina, 55, thinks she has found a solution to stop tourists from buying old tiles — she has set up a small shop near the market that sells reproductions of azulejos made in the 18th century.
“I prefer it if tourists buy beautiful reproductions of azulejos as souvenirs of Lisbon, which will allow the originals to remain in the country,” she said.
India and Canada yesterday reached a string of agreements, including on critical mineral cooperation and a “landmark” uranium supply deal for nuclear power, the countries’ leaders said in New Delhi. The pacts, which also covered technology and promoting the use of renewable energy, were announced after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney hailed a fresh start in the relationship between their nations. “Our ties have seen a new energy, mutual trust and positivity,” Modi said. Carney’s visit is a key step forward in ties that effectively collapsed in 2023 after Ottawa accused New Delhi
Gaza is rapidly running out of its limited fuel supply and stocks of food staples might become tight, officials said, after Israel blocked the entry of fuel and goods into the war-shattered territory, citing fighting with Iran. The Israeli military closed all Gaza border crossings on Saturday after announcing airstrikes on Iran carried out jointly with the US. Israeli authorities late on Monday night said that they would reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel to Gaza yesterday, for “gradual entry of humanitarian aid” into the strip, without saying how much. Israeli authorities previously said the crossings could not be operated safely during
Counting was under way in Nepal yesterday, after a high-stakes parliamentary election to reshape the country’s leadership following protests last year that toppled the government. Key figures vying for power include former Nepalese prime minister K. P. Sharma Oli, rapper-turned-mayor Balendra Shah, who is bidding for the youth vote, and newly elected Nepali Congress party leader Gagan Thapa. In Kathmandu’s tea shops and city squares, people were glued to their phones, checking results as early trends flashed up — suggesting Shah’s centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was ahead. Nepalese Election Commission spokesman Prakash Nyupane said the counting was ongoing “in a peaceful manner”
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
RSS