The tile has a fundamental role in history

Surely you have seen tiles decorating houses and buildings, but what you may not know is that handmade tile like the ones we make in Artesanía Sevilla plays a fundamental role in history, since it is one of the favorite elements for centuries to reflect important events around the world, especially in our land, Andalusia, where the tile tradition is impressive.

When you have ever gone down the street, surely you have seen a tile in a house with a legend similar to "in this house X was born on that date", it is a precious way to remember a historical event.

There are many examples of this, such as the tile on the side façade of the Library of the Cadiz municipality of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, which is the old Town Hall of this town. It is a building dating from the 18th century in which there are several tiles that recall the First Around the World.

The first tile is from 1956, and thanks to the durability of the ceramic, it has reached our days almost intact. This collects the names of the crew members who survived the voyage aboard the only ship that returned, the nao Victoria. A second tile includes a scene in which Magellan and Juan Sebastián Elcano are present next to the Victoria ship next to the phrase given by King Carlos V: Primus Circumdedisti Me (the first one you surrounded me)

A third artisan tile shows the route that these sailors made, and in the lower left part you can see the sailors entering the church where the survivors went as soon as they reached the mainland along with the names of the five ships that participated in the company. Also present is the shield of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, the Rose of the Winds and a few words from the chronicler of this trip, Pigafetta:

"From the time we had left San Lucar Bay until we returned to it, we traveled more than fourteen thousand four hundred and sixty leagues according to our account and went around the entire world ..."

The fourth tile reflects Juan Sebastián Elcano writing a letter to King Carlos I telling him about the news of the mission, and these lines appear on the tile:

“Very High and Illustrious Majesty: your High Majesty will know how eighteen men have arrived with only one of the five ships that VM sent to discover the species ... after three years have passed, we will arrive at the Port of Barrameda ... and more will VM know that we have discovered and turned around the whole roundness of the world… Written on board the Victoria ship, in Sanlúcar, six days in September 1522. Captain Juan Sebastián Elcano ”.

This is just a sample of how tile is used in these cases, but did you know that you can also have it in your home to celebrate your own events?