After the Arabs introduced the tile in the Iberian Peninsula, this long tradition has played a crucial role in the aesthetic universe of the Portuguese Baroc style.

The tiles can be applied as a complementary element, as a substitute for painting, as a stand-alone artistic element or even as in an harmonious connection with painting and golden woodwork.
In the 17th Century was created the "carpet-like" tile, in which there is a decorative sequence that eliminates the simple element in respect to the whole.

No place in the European continent has this material received such an expressive and original evolution, so well adapted to several economical, social and cultural environments, nor it has been used in such a complex and wide manner, with uses that widely transcend a mere decorative role, as it is the case in Portugal.

This originality developed throughout five centuries of dedicate work of art of the tile in Portugal.