Europe’s oldest ceramics factory

The Sant’Anna factory – established in 1741 – is Europe’s oldest ceramics factory, renowned for producing traditional Portuguese hand-painted tiles (azulejos) and ceramics, using entirely handcrafted methods.

Sant’Anna was born in the neighbourhood of Lapa and initially produced bricks. In 1755, after the apocalyptic earthquake (terramoto) – that completely whipped out the lowest part of the capital – the factory began to produce tiles to cover the facades of the buildings and help in the rehabilitation of the capital.

It’s been 125 years since the factory moved to Calçada de Boa Hora in the Ajuda district, a clayey area where the raw material was easily extracted and where the artisanal production of tiles and ceramics could be continued.

‘Our collections, nowadays, are mainly reproductions of the 18th century’, says Mariana Felício, graphic designer in the newspaper Público, ‘but of course we do everything the client wants because when we talk about manual work, we can make things a machine cannot.’

For the production of the traditional Portuguese tiles -without relief – a roller, a mold, and a knife are used. ‘The process is similar to that of making Christmas cookies’, says Mariana. ‘With the roller, the clay is pressed on the table, placed in an eight-millimetre gauge, which is the thickness of the traditional tile, and cut one by one with our square mold and knife.

After four to six weeks of drying, the tiles are ready to go the oven for a first two-day cooking at 1100 °C.  After cooling down the next stap is made by a single person, who focuses on listening to the tiles one by one to find out if the tile is good or not to be glazed and painted, explains Mariana.

‘To do this, you hit the tile with a small piece of wood. If a metallic noise sounds, the tile is in good condition. On the other hand, if the tile has a more hollow sound, it means there are air bubbles inside that can lead to breaking in the next cooking step.’

‘Sometimes, the artist works seven, eight hours just on one tile. What happens is that we will waste eight hours of the artist’s work if the tile is not good. That’s why it is important to do this type of – most traditional and original possible – test before proceeding to glazing, painting and firing up the oven again.’

Today, 85% of the production is exported abroad, mainly to the US. In addition to private customers – who make up the majority – the factory also works with architects and interior designers on projects such as hotels ( the Ritz, for example) and requalification of buildings.  

Visitors can observe artisans crafting tiles using traditional techniques and purchase pieces ranging from classic 18th century designs to contemporary styles. The factory (www.santanna.com.pt) also offers tile painting classes.

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Literacy is earned through fun, provocation and stimulation’

About 40% of adults in Portugal can only understand simple texts and solve basic arithmetic problems, according to an Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) study from 2023, comparing 160.000 people in 31 countries. Only Chileans turned out to have more difficulties in interpreting texts or performing mathematical calculations.

The study shows that 15% of the more than 3000 Portuguese participants are able to understand short and simple sentences and that another 27% understand short texts. Thus, 42% of the population – representing 6.6 million people between 16 and 65 years old – has a very low level of literacy.

Four out of ten adults can only do basic calculations with whole numbers. They do understand the meaning of decimal places and can add and subtract small numbers but they have difficulties in understanding rates and ratios and calculate proportions.

Another area analyzed was problemsolving, in which over 40% of the Portuguese obtained very low results as they could only solve simple problems with few variables and little accessory information.

Researchers point out that adults with better numeracy skills are more likely to be employed, earn higher wages and are more satisfied with their lives than low-skilled people. ‘However, despite efforts of governments to strengthen adult education, the survey reveals a very unequal picture of skills with a growing number of people poorly prepared for the future’, warns Andreas Schleicher, OECD director of Education and Skills.

In the last decade, only Finland and Denmark have recorded significant improvements in adult literacy, while the other participant nations recorded stagnation or decline.

The skills of Portuguese adults in literacy, numeracy and problem solving already begins to decrease from the age of 25 whereas the youngest adults – those between 16 and 24 years old – have the greatest capacities in the three areas, before dropping considerably and reaching minimums in older adults between 55 and 65 years old.

‘But surprisingly – unlike other European countries – this proficiency already drops considerably in the group of 25-34 years, whereas in most countries the top of skills is in the group of adults between 25 and 34 years’, highlights João Queirós, one of the national coordinators of the study.

Reasons might be the relative high rate of school dropout as well as difficulties in access to higher education.

Another worrying fact is that adults with higher education in Portugal obtained lower results than adults with secondary education in Finland. The value of the university degree differs between countries because it is also related to the quality of education.

‘We need to understand why in some countries students are acquiring training without the necessary skills’, says Claudia Tamassia of PIAAC (OECD’s Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies).

Her observation is shared by the National Education Council (CNE). ‘It is necessary to innovate in teaching and assessment practices and environments in which students are challenged to critical thinking, to be autonomous and to be able to integrate knowledge and skills’, declared its president Domingos Fernandes recently.

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Porcelain is essentially made of kaolin, sand and the mineral feldspar’

Vista Alegre – the country’s most famous porcelain brand – celebrates its 200th anniversary.
The factory in Ílhavo, founded in 1824 by José Ferreira Pinto Basto, has remained relevant for two centuries thanks to its quality, ability to reinvent itself and focus on the future.
 

An exhibition celebrating the bicentennial can be found in the Ajuda palace in Lisbon, where even today tableware from Vista Alegre is used in state dinners. ‘We not only want to show the finished products, that represent the history of Vista Alegre, but also elements from the factory itself, such as the carts in which the pieces are waiting to go into the oven or the moulds’, says Filipa Oliveira, who shares with Anísio Franco the curatorship.
  

‘Many Portuguese have a close relationship with Vista Alegre porcelain because it passed through their homes’ argues Anísio Franco, warning future visitors about the possibility that there are few pieces they will recognize.

The Vista Alegre factory initially began by manufacturing utilitarian objects in glass, such as jars and bowls but always with a quality that can be seen in the execution and decoration. In 1880 it discontinues glass production and starts dedicating itself exclusively to the manufacturing of porcelain, of greater importance to the national industry.

The first pieces were of imperfect soft paste porcelain, called ‘stone powder’ crockery. To produce high-quality porcelain, a clay capable of supporting the fusion of components was essential: kaolin. In 1832 a white clay – until that time used to whitewash homes – was accidentally discovered that later proved to be the sought-after kaolin.

The factory then hires specialized craftsman and accomplished painters and the factory establishes itself in the 19th century as a producer of true porcelain executed to tremendous perfection. Victor Rousseau, a prestigious French draftsman and painter who was exiled in England, is hired and gives the factory its own directive. He founds the factory’s first School of Painting responsible for teaching generations of masters to uphold the high level of artistry.

‘It is very important to know the genealogy of the masters of Vista Alegre to perceive each production period (f.e. neoclassical forms or already romanticism)’, says Anísio Franco. ‘Each one brought knowledge and taste of their own that marked what came out of the factory.’

In the 80s, a partnership with the businesswoman and collector Mildred Mottahedeh gives Vista Alegre access to the North American market, allowing the company to make pieces for the White House and the Rockefeller family.

This year, Portugal’s most famous player in the history of football– Christano Ronaldo – bought 10% of the capital of Vista Alegre with the aim of extending the company in the Middle East, where Ronaldo is playing nowadays.

The turnover of Vista Alegre in 2023 amounted to 130 million euros.
Seventy percent of the production is exported, especially to Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the US and Brazil.

The exhibition brings together 400 pieces and can be seen at the Ajuda Palace in Lisbon, until May 31.

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Not just part of Portugal’s history but part of the world’s history’

The rare Garrano is an endangered breed of pony within the Iberian horse family from northern Portugal mainly used as a pack horse, and for light farm work.

Members of this emblematic breed are usually dark chestnut in colour, with a straight facial profile and stand on average 1.35 metres. In the 1940s there were over 40,000 Garranos in Portugal. Current estimates put the total population at less than 2,000.

An exquisite, stocky species dating back to the Ancient Bronze Age and unchanged for thousands of years but in decline since the middle of the 20th century as farms were mechanised and horses replaced by tractors and cars.

‘A horse needs a function’, says Jose Leite, a vet and technical adviser of the Association of Garanno Horse Breeders (ACERG) in the Guardian. ‘The need for the horse as an agricultural tool has ended and its intensive breeding as well. The Association is trying to ensure the breed’s survival by highlighting its potential: it can pull buggies, do dressage and – because of its size  – is an ideal horse for novice riders.

Garranos are well known for their hardiness, physical resilience and ability to thrive in harsh environments, making them perfect for living in the northern mountainous regions of Portugal.

Native to Minho and Trás-os-Montes, the pony is a herbivore that plays a fundamental role in the prevention of bushfires, consuming fuel material in large areas as it is tradition to release and breed the horses in semi-feral state. Some herds are even completely feral in nature reserves like the Peneda-Gerês National Park.

Obsolescence however is not the only threat to the Garranos. The mountains of northern Portugal are also home to Iberian wolves, comprising some 300 animals. Like the ponies, the wolves have been in the area since at least Roman times and protected since 1988.

Gerrano foals are easy picking for the wolves. The Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF) – a state body that pays farmers whose livestock are killed by the carnivores – has launched a range of projects to support farmers in preventing wolf attacks, such as the use of traditional Portuguese livestock dogs and the building of fences.

But the Garrano breeders argue that neither measure is suited to roaming ponies and say the only sustainable solution would be the introduction of other animals for the wolves to eat, such as goats. In the meantime, many breeders are bringing their pregnant mares down from the mountains to raise their foals in safety.

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Patients of the oldest psychiatric hospital in Lisbon left an artistic footprint

The former hospital Miguel Bombarda in de Rua Dr Almeida Amaral in Lisbon was the first psychiatric hospital in Portugal. The history of the building goes back to the beginning of the 18th century, when there was an estate called Rilhafoles, on which in 1720, a monastery for the nuns of S. Vincent of Paul (Congregação da Missão de S. Vincente do Paulo) was build.

After the Portuguese government banned all religious orders in 1834, the building was occupied by students of the military college (Colégio Militar) until1848, after which it was transformed into a mental hospital called the Rilhafoles Hospital for the Insane (Hospital dos Alienados de Rilhafoles).

In 1892 doctor Miguel Bombarda was appointed director there. This physician, born in Rio de Janeiro, was trained in Lisbon and devoted himself to the mentally ill. He taught at the Medical Faculty on Lisbon’s second hilltop (Campo Santana) and founded – together with the famous surgeon Sousa Martins – the medical journal Medicina Contemporânea.

Under Bombarda’s leadership, a special Security Pavilion was constructed behind the hospital – for patients who had committed a crime – a rare panoptic building. Cells strung together in a circle with a lookout at the centre from which patients could be permanently observed. A model designed by the English philosopher Jeremy Bentham.

In addition to being an inventive physician, Bombarda also was a passionate politician, who wanted to abolish the monarchy. But just one day before the Republic was proclaimed on the 5th of October 1910, he was shot by an ex-patient in his consultation room. One year later, the name of the hospital changed to Hospital Miguel Bombarda, in honor of its late director.

After the closure of the hospital in 2011, a real estate developer bought the hospital grounds to build residential towers on it but the government didn’t allow that since the buildings are part of the cultural heritage. Nowadays, the panopticon is a forgotten building in the heart of Lisbon.

Fortunately, since last year, a group of volunteers is rescuing it from degradation by highlighting the art made by psychiatric patients at the time. Part of that artistic legacy can be admired in two rooms, remnants of a proto-museum founded by the late Bombarda, but since long closed to the public.

Here we encounter paintings from the dancer Valentim de Barros, who spent most of his life in a panoptic cell. Hospitalized in the late 1930s – apparently only for his homosexuality – he died in 1986 on the same day he was discharged. Another patient Jaime Fernandes became famous with his outsider art, which reached the Gulbenkian Foundation and the Bruta Art Collection in Lausanne, Switzerland.

But most of the patients who left work are anonymous, emphasizes Stefanie Franco, a university researcher focusing on the relationship between art and psychiatry, which aroused a vivid interest in the international cultural arena for many years. The pioneering collection of Lausanne – started in 1945 – continues to be a reference.

However, the bulk of the collection – consisting of thousands of drawings, paintings, photographs and tiles – is stored in the basements of the Júlio de Matos Hospital, still to be fully inventoried and waiting for a proper destination. ‘This is a mission’, says Amélia Lérias, a former psychiatrist at Bombarda, charged with the task of inventorying. ‘What we have here is of great wealth and needs institutional protection.’

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‘World’s 1.5C climate target ‘deader than a doornail’ – the Guardian

The internationally 2015 Paris agreement to keep the world’s temperature below 1.5C in 2050 will not be achieved – with 2024 being the year above this threshold – despite the current gathering of world’s decision-makers at the United Nations COP29 summit in Baku, Azerbajan.   

In 2030, the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the EU is expected to reach 49% – according to the EEA (European Environment Agency) – still far from its target of 55%. However, even this goal would be insufficient to meet the Paris Agreement and shows that much more ambition is needed.

Although Portugal is trying its best – from 2005 to 2022 it reduced 34% of its emissions –  the country definitely doesn’t belong to the frontrunners in the EU (like Sweden) but is at the average of all EU countries in terms of emissions.

There are sectors that are being difficult to decarbonize. ‘Transport, Agriculture and Waste are still far from reaching the sectorial goals defined for 2030’, says the State of the Environment Report (REA) released by the Portuguese Environment Agency last month.  

With the exception of the railways, emissions from all other means of transport increased. In particular, the evolution of sectors such as aviation and the oil industry are cause of concern. The major emissions zones are all close to the sea, but two stand out, the Galp refinery in Sines and the Humberto Delgado airport in Lisbon.

The international airport is the most polluting with 3.5 million tons and emissions continue to increase, with special thanks to private aviation.

Portugal is on the list of 20 countries with the most jet planes for the private market. The country is in 14th place, with an equivalent of 1.5 jets per 100,000 residents. Behind the USA (5.4/100,000) and Switzerland (3.7/100,000) but ahead of the UK (0.8/100,000) and Germany (0.7/100,000). The ‘golden visasdefinitely explain its ranking on the list.

Although Galp’s refinery in Sines recorded a decline last year, it will still emit cerca 2.2 million tons this year. ‘Galp’s intention to review its decarbonization targets – due to the discovery of oil in Namibia – and the slower execution of renewable projects is very worrying, the environmental movement ZERO said in a statement.

The port of Sines appears in 3rd place with 1.2 million tons and an upward trend since 2021. Carnes Landeiro in Barcelos, the Ribatejo Thermoelectric Power Plant in Carregado and the Cimpor’s Cement factory in Souselas are in 4th, 5th and 6th place, respectively.

With a centre-right government in power since the beginning of this year, environmentalists fear the focus on technology and economy could undermine the climate transition. They are calling on the government to uphold the country’s 2045 goal for reaching carbon neutrality, rather than delaying it until 2050 as far-right groups are pushing for.  


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Crime by immigrants hasn’t increased. Crime against them has.

The idea that an increase in immigration brings more crime is a myth! This concludes the sociologist Catarina Reis Oliveira, who analyzed the data on crimes published by the police authorities and crossed them with the immigration figures.

In an analysis made at the request of the newspaper Público the result is clear: in municipalities with the highest absolute number of foreigners, crime has decreased. On the other hand, the ratio of crimes per number of residents is lower in the municipalities where the immigrant population has the most impact.  

Municipalities where the immigrant population has a significant impact on the resident population are Vila do Bispo (immigrants represent 44% of the total population), Odemira (42%), Lisbon (29%) and Porto (14%).

If there were a direct relationship between immigration and crime, it would be expected that the increase in foreigners would be directly reflected in an increase in crimes recorded. However, ‘nothing more wrong,’ concludes the researcher.

Odemira – where almost half of the population originates from South Asia to work in agriculture – has over the last decade a lower proportion of crimes than that verified for the whole country, also distancing itself from the proportion of crimes recorded by total residents in Lisbon and Porto, municipalities that have a much lower impact of foreign residents.

In Odemira, in ten years, the proportion of crimes per inhabitant hardly changed (from 3.2 crimes per 100 residents in 2011 to 3.4 in 2023), whereas immigration skyrocketed. The data are much lower than in Lisbon and Porto, where the ratio last year was, respectively 5.9 and 5.8 crimes per 100 inhabitants.

What this analysis reveals is that ‘alarmist discourse is not supported by numbers’. In municipalities where the immigrant population hasn’t increased, crime has grown. In contrast, in places like Odimira, where the weight of immigrants is much higher, ‘crime numbers remain stable, even below the national average’.

The researcher concludes that ‘this deconstruction of the myth is essential to combat prejudice and hate. What really worries is the effect of this fallacious discourse, which is fostering an increase in violence against this vulnerable population.’


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‘It is time black people have their voice’

As word of the family photo project of the African Diaspora spread last year, Chalo Correia, knew he had to be part of it. Originally from Angola, Correia’s more than three decades of living in Portugal had given him a feeling that he would never fully belong.

The musician saw the exhibition as a way to highlight Lisbon’s large and diverse community of African origin, a community deeply rooted in the country’s colonial history but still seen by many as outsiders. He selected three photos from the 70’s that showed him sitting with friends, a baptism and a family party.

They are part of a collaborative exhibition in Lisbon – on display in the Monument to the Discoveries (Padrão dos Descobrimentos) – offering an alternative to the images of one of Europe’s longest-lived colonial empires.

‘For me, there was need to create a counter-narrative, says Filipa Vicente, historian and researcher at the Institute of Social Science (ICS – ULisboa) to the Guardian. ‘Colonial photography often is a way of dehumanization, revealing people who are often nameless and photographed without consent.’

‘Each of the photographs are chosen by the families themselves’, explains Inocência Mata, professor of Literature, Arts and Cultures at the University of Lisbon, who co-curated the exhibition with Vicente. ‘It is important to show that Black people are not only objects, but also subjects of their history.’

While the family albums are personal– mostly dating back as far as 1975 and reflecting experiences of 35 families who were part of a wave of migration from the country’s former colonies – the footprint of Portugal’s empire is clearly visible. ‘We had such a late and absurd colonialism until the Carnation Revolution of 25 April 1974’, states Vicente. ‘These stories are very much present in our daily lives.’

The location of the exhibition in the Monument to the Discoveries – conceived as a means of glorifying Portugal’s colonial empire – proved controversial. Vicente and Mata, however, saw the opportunity to launch a ‘Trojan horse’, with the exhibition offering a chance to reinterpret one of the country’s most important colonial spaces from within.

The exhibition comes at a time as the country wrestles with the broader question of how to best address its colonial and slave trading past. Earlier this year, Portugal’s president Marcelo de Sousa, told reporters that that the country should ‘pay the costs’ for slavery and other colonial crimes, a suggestion that was immediately shot down by the centre-right coalition government.

Family Albums: Photographs of the African Diaspora in Greater Lisbon (1975 to today) until 30 November.

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In Portugal, it is unacceptable to suggest that a child is better off at a special school’

Portugal has transferred almost all children in special education to ‘normal’ schools. In the Netherlands, the number of children in special schools actually increased in recent years. Follow the Money investigated the differences in both countries.

The inclusive approach in Portugal has been enshrined in a number of education laws. In 2008, the government decided to close special schools for primary and secondary education and to place students back into regular education.

With this new legislation, the school no longer needs a medical diagnosis to intervene. The focus now is on needs rather than diagnosis. If a child is acting hyperactive and has difficulty concentrating, he/she can get guidance from a school psychologist without a proper ADHD diagnosis.

Schools draw up an individual support plan for each child with special needs (learning delays, mental or physical problems) and are assisted by physiotherapists, psychologists, speech therapists or special-need teachers. In 2017 the number of pupils with special needs in regular education had doubled and nowadays almost all children with special needs (over 98%) go to regular schools.

Portuguese schools receive a fixed amount per student and can apply for extra money for children with special needs; to pay for psychologists, wheelchair lifts or teaching materials. Inclusive policies are not only aimed at students with special needs or disabilities. Extensive attention is also paid to the backgrounds and cultures of migrant children, who nowadays constitute 15% of the pupils in primary and secondary education.

Despite the many adjustments the schools have to make in the field of education (special-need teachers, therapists) and infrastructure (e.g. wheelchair accessibility), the country spends less on education than the Netherlands. Last year education expenditure in Portugal was exactly at the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) average of 5.1% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while Dutch spending was 5.4%.

At the same time Portugal showed – according to the OECD – a positive trajectory on the international Pisa research, which compares the scores of 15-year olds in the fields of reading skills, mathematics and sciences.

Overall scores are falling in recent years, a trend that is visible in many countries. Possible explanations are migration, increasing inequality, use of smartphones and the impact of the corona epidemic.

In 2022, Portuguese children scored around the OECD average on all three parts, higher than at the start of Pisa in 2000. In reading skills, the Netherlands has been scoring worse than Portugal for the last five years and in mathematics and sciences, the Netherlands still has a slight advantage but the level drops faster than in Portugal.

The Dutch Education Inspectorate (Onderwijsraad) mentioned Portugal in their State of Education 2024 as an example of a country where inclusion is the norm. The Netherlands itself failed to achieve that goal.
Although the Dutch Appropriate Education Act from 2014 was intended to reduce the number of students in special education, their numbers only continue to increase.


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‘Wildfires, the nightmare we have to live with’

Nine people killed – including three firefighters – and more than 170 injured in wildfires ravaging the central and northern regions of the country; in the districts of Aveiro, Porto, Vila Real, Braga, Viseu and Coimbra.

The country’s civil protection service said that last week 54 wildfires were burning nationwide with 5,300 firefighters mobilized. France, Greece, Italy and Spain have sent water-bombing planes through the EU’s mutual assistance program. The fires forced the closure of two railway lines and several motorways, including part of the main road between Lisbon and Porto.

The area burned in mainland Portugal in one week exceeds 135,000 hectares according to the European Earth Observation Service Copernicus, which uses satellite images. In Aveiro alone, the fire consumed more than 10,000 hectares of forest and scrubland in just two days. 

Furthermore, as a result of the fires, carbon emissions (CO2) – used as an indicator to assess the intensity of fires – mounted to 1,9 megatons (million tons) announced Copernicus, the worst value for Portugal in 22 years.

After a wet start this year, Portugal recorded initially 50% fewer wildfires than last year, but extreme temperatures over last weekend amid exceptionally low humidity and strong winds have given rise to blazing fires, despite the government having increased fire-prevention funding by a factor of 10 and doubled its firefighting budget after the deadly wildfires in 2017 claimed 64 lives.

Since the 1st of January, the judicial police detained 42 persons suspected of having set forest fires; 9 of whom are women. Most arsonists act impulsively or when the opportunity arises and is based on emotional suffering (depression, anger, revenge, cognitive deficit) or the excitement of seeing it burn, says Cristina Soeiro, psychologist at the Judicial Police.

Portugal’s prime minister, Luis Montenegro, has said that the people suspected of starting some of the fires would feel the full force of the law, adding that he would ‘spare no effort in repressive action’ when it came to such crimes.

‘Make no mistake. These tragedies are no anomalies but becoming the norm for our shared future’ EU’s crisis management commissioner Janez Lenarčič recently declared in Strasbourg. ‘Europe is the fastest warming continent in the world and particularly vulnerable to extreme weather events.’

The good news for Portugal is that – in the meantime – rain has arrived but a collective approach to tackle the climate breakdown is further away than ever, as long as the world continues burning oil, gas and coal.  

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