National Tile Museum

National museum for azulejos in the Madre de Deus Convent

The Museu Nacional do Azulejo is Lisbon's national museum dedicated to azulejos – the distinctive blue-and-white and coloured ceramic tiles that define Portugal's urban landscape. Housed in the 16th-century former Madre de Deus Convent, the building itself is a work of art: walls, ceilings and floors are covered with centuries-old tile pictures. The collection spans tiles from the 15th century to the present and is one of the world's most important ceramics collections. A panoramic painting in blue tiles depicts Lisbon before the 1755 earthquake – a unique historical document.