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From the theoretical point-of-view, the azulejo has been studied in Portugal since the second half of the nineteenth century through a perspective that increasingly highlights the idea of originality and, more recently, the identity factor. Actually, today the azulejo is regarded as one of the arts that best identifies Portuguese heritage. However, is it truly so? Is it reasonable to associate identity narratives with azulejo or is this idea connected only to issues of national marketing?
Included in the Month of the Azulejo and the European Year of Cultural Heritage, AzLab#42 special seminar, entitled Identity(ies) of the azulejo in Portugal,1 aimed at debating issues of identity related to glazed tiles, focusing its attention both on the historiographic construction of this (these) concept(s) and on the different points that distinguish the Portuguese usage of the glazed tile from how other countries understand this art form. It is to these subjects that ARTis ON 8 was dedicated.
