Calçada Portuguesa

 Calçada Portuguesa: the black and white mosaic art of Portuguese pavement

Calçada Portuguesa or mosaic cobblestones in Porto

All about Calçada Portuguesa

In mid-nineteenth-century Lisbon, a new art form was created, Calçada Portuguesa or simply Calçada (Pedra Portuguesa in Brazil), which has since become a traditional-style cobblestone pavement, as typical of Lisbon's 'Pastel de Nata' the beloved local custard tarts, or the charming blue-white 'Azulejos' hand-painted tiles or the ubiquitous 'Liós' Stone Monuments made from the local Cretaceous microcrystalline limestone. 

The irregularly shaped cobblestones, hewn from either limestone or basalt, in shades of black and white, are painstakingly carved by hand and laid out by the talented hands of 'calceteiros' or master pavers to form decorative patterns or recreate Portuguese history and art. 

Calceteiros, or master pavers, at work (Source: Internet)

The desired pattern is first covered up with a mould and then the first stones are placed around the mould. Once the contours of the mould are finished, the mould can be removed and filled with a distinctive colour so the pattern appears. The smaller the cobblestones, and the more complicated the pattern, the longer the work takes since the small cobblestones cannot be separated more than two millimetres. 

In 1986 the City Council of Lisbon established a special school, the Escolas de Calceteiros e Jardineiros de Lisboa in Olivais, to train new calceteiros. At that time, the city was employing around 400 pavers to preserve and expand the beloved Calçada Portuguesa. But being a calceteiro is no walk in the park; it is literally back-breaking work being exposed to the hot Portuguese sun. A skilled calceteiro can lay down around plain pavement of 10 sq m a day, but if the pattern is more elaborate, only about 1 sq m a day is possible.


The white and black cobblestones, the most popular colours, along with the less common grey, are from the Serras de Aire e Candeeiros region of central Portugal. The rare yellow and pink are mostly quarried in the southern Alentejo region.

When did stone pavements become fashionable?

Much earlier than I thought! 

Paving as a craft is believed to have originated in Mesopotamia, where rocky materials were used inside and outside constructions, later brought to Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.

Famous Albrecht Dürer’s sketch of an Indian Rhino. c1515 (source: Internet)

According to legend, the stone paving of Lisbon’s streets started in the early sixteenth century because of an Indian rhinoceros named Ganga. The same one immortalized in the German artist Albrecht Dürer’s 1515 famed wood-cutting print of a rhinoceros that sold over 5000 copies in his lifetime (he did not actually see a rhino but drew it from a letter and a sketch of one), the first of his kind to be admired in Europe since Roman times. The rhinoceros Ganga was a diplomatic gift from Muzaffar Shah II, the Sultan of Cambai (Gujarat), to Afonso de Albuquerque, the Portuguese Viceroy in India from 1509 to 1515. Subsequently, it was sent to King Manuel I of Portugal, arriving at Lisbon in 1515. The plan was to exhibit Ganga through the streets of Lisbon. King Manuel I ordered the route be paved with stone to prevent the richly adorned beast and the illustrious participants of the parade, from being spattered with Lisbon’s notorious dirt. 

When did Calçada Portuguesa pavements become fashionable?

King Carlos I at São Jorge Castle. c1904 (source: Portuguese Archives)

The Calçada Portuguesa style pavement was first laid out in 1842 on the parade grounds of the São Jorge Castle in Lisbon, home of the 'Batalhão de Caçadores 5' (5th Battalion of Light Infantry), an elite rifleman unit formed during the Peninsular Napoleonic War. The paving, a simple black and white zigzag pattern, was ordered by Lt. Gen. Eusébio Pinheiro Furtado, Governor of the Castle, and completed by convicts sentenced to civil service in the fortress. 

Throngs of visitors came to the São Jorge Castle to admire the mosaic pavement which became an overnight sensation! Most understood the system as inexpensive, beautiful, and uniquely Portuguese because it is not found in any other country.

Praça do Rossio. c1890 (Source: Portuguese archives)

Following the enormous excitement surrounding the castle’s innovative pavement, Lt. Gen. Eusébio Furtado suggested Lisbon’s recently renovated 'Praça do Rossio' (Rossio Central Square), later formally renamed Dom Pedro IV Square, be similarly paved. The Municipal Council agreed and paving works started in the summer of 1848. The pattern used to cover the central area of the square was the wavy design now known as 'Mar Largo' (Wide Sea), an expression borrowed from Portugal's greatest poet Luís Vaz de Camões, 1571 epic poem 'Os Lusíadas' (The Lusiads), a tribute to Portugal’s seafaring traditions. 


Next to get Calçada Portuguesa was the 'Padrão dos Descobrimentos' (Monument to the Discoveries), you can see a world map with the routes taken by Portuguese explorers inside a compass rose, and the Mar Largo design, identical to the one in Rossio Square.

The versatility of Calçada Portuguesa pavements

Before long, public squares and boulevards all over Lisbon started being designed and renovated with Calçada Portuguesa style pavements much to the delight of pedestrians who felt a sense of pride and connection to their culture.

After its success in Lisbon, the characteristic mosaic pavement spread rapidly all over the country from Porto, Guimarães, and Faro to Ponta Delgada.  

Ponta Delgada, Azores Islands

The Calçada Portuguesa was easily tailored to regional geological contexts and local motifs. In the Atlantic volcanic archipelago of the Azores, the Portuguese pavement uses both native and exotic stone. The need to import the white limestones led to a curious colour inversion in Calçada Portuguesa designs. Unlike typical Lisbon pavements, in the Azores, the backdrop is set with black basaltic sett stones, locally abundant, the drawings produced with the much rarer white ones. 

Madeira, Azores Islands

In the Atlantic archipelago of Madeira, a distinctive local type of black and white cobblestone pavement occurs, akin to the Calçada Portuguesa in visual effect, but using completely different building materials, whilst in Lisbon, the inlaid mosaic pavements are made of small fashioned limestone blocks specially fashioned and laid to produce the artistic motifs, in the small island of Porto Santo (Madeira archipelago), local black, white, and grey pebbles are used to pave sidewalks and squares 

Calçada Portuguesa pavements outside Portugal

Since the early twentieth century, the Calçada Portuguesa pavement has been used in many places worldwide, especially where an important Portuguese community exists, emphasizing its strong identity value. As it turns out, the Lisbon patterned pavement made its way to the four corners of the globe: from Brazil to Mozambique, and from the African islands of Cape Verde to Macao in China.

The iconic four km long Copacabana beach promenade (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) is a fine example of the Calçada Portuguesa's artistic adaptability. It was originally paved in the early twentieth century using the classical Lisbon wavy pattern (Fig. 5D). This pattern was prominently featured in the 1942 Walt Disney animation film Saludos Amigos, in which two famous showbiz birds, Donald Duck and the local parrot José Carioca, engage in a lively dance having the wavy design of the Copacabana pavement as a backdrop.

The uncertain future of Calçada Portuguesa

Some locals complain about the difficulty of walking with stilettos or using roller bags. Furthermore, there is less traction when wet and loose stones can become tripping hazards, especially for elderly people.

The lack of calceteiros or skilled stone pavers is not the only thing threatening the Calçada Portuguesa. The high costs of preserving the pavements is a problem for city councils everywhere. For example, the city of Ponta Delgada in the Azores spends more than 300 thousand euros each year on maintaining the patterned pavements; made costly due to the difficulty of obtaining appropriate stones.

References 

1. da Silva, C.M., Pereira, S. Walking on Geodiversity: the Artistic Stone-Paved Sidewalks of Lisbon (Portugal) and Their Heritage Value. Geoheritage 14, 98 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12371-022-00733-5
2. The ancient art of the traditional Portuguese pavement. (2023, March 28). Only Portugal. Retrieved May 18, 2024, from https://www.onlyportugal.pt/en/talent-design/portuguese-pavement
3. Maloeka. (2020, June 18). Calçada portuguesa: The Art of Portuguese Pavement. Bucket List Portugal. Retrieved May 18, 2024, from https://bucketlistportugal.com/calcada-portuguesa-the-art-of-portuguese-pavement/