Portugal/Propostas/Calçada Portuguesa ENG

Description

The Portuguese pavement it is an artistic expression, an element of the cultural, traditional and distinctive heritage of Portugal and very specifically of Lisbon, although there are expressions of Portuguese pavement throughout the country and also around the world, with a presence on all continents, thus assuming itself as well as an element of dissemination of Portuguese culture. It is an element that enhances the image of the country and gives cities a unique beauty and luminosity, dignifying the public space, making it more attractive. It combines the characteristics of durability, of great aesthetic beauty and can, whenever necessary, be renovated or rebuilt. It also has environmental benefits, compared to other types of pavement, by regulating the temperature and increasing the permeability of the soil, contributing to a better drainage of the waters.

Its originality gives it a very particular status, since each sidewalk is unique due to the diversity of the motifs used, but also because its final effect depends on the production and the mastery of the craftsman. Nowadays, it is used in the paving of pedestrian areas, squares, parks and patios, but also in public and private indoor spaces.

History

The Portuguese pavement is a historical heritage of the culture and construction technology of the Romans, of which there are countless traces in Portugal, among them the Romamn Road in Alqueidão da Serra, Porto de Mós municipality.

The Roman art of paving was not limited to the technique used in paving communication routes; there remain among us examples of magnificent mosaics from that time in tesserae, a decoration technique in connections and contours forming drawings of great technical perfection, made with small square stones of approximately 2 cm x 2 cm, usually of limestone or marble, but also of glass or terracotta, existing in Conímbriga one of the greatest legacies of this paving art.

The Roman Empire built in the city of Olisipo, today Lisbon, commercial, industrial, cultural structures, colleges, theaters, spas and housing, with tesserae floors found in buried buildings in the center of the city.

It was the Romans who started using stone as a material at the service of armies in the growth of the defense of their empire, exploring a wealth of opportunities for its use as a building material and decoration. Warrior and conquering people, the Romans created a vast road network to better develop their commercial activities, as well as to facilitate the transport of war material and soldiers, connecting their vast empire by bridges and paths built with heavy slabs, placed next to each other.

Not as decorative as that of the Romans, the Arab heritage is characterized by its arabesque designs through the structural and organizational changes of its pavements, where there is clearly an orderly use in spine or spike system to use the waters.

It was in the 14th century that, during the reign of Dom João II, in the cities of Lisbon and Porto, the opulence and luxury brought by commercial profitability opens the way to a new society that leads to the creation of the so-called "Ruas Novas" (New Streets) along the riverside areas, where great fortunes and merchandise stores were concentrated.

Dom João II, delighted with the quality of the stone works in the city of Porto, ordered the pavement of Rua Nova in the capital, which would later give rise to the opening of quarries near Cascais, having been signed contracts with fishermen in that area for its transportation. However, it was Dom Manuel I, who succeeded him, who, 30 years after its beginning, completed the work on Rua Nova, which, with its 200 meters, was considered by the chroniclers of the time as the most commercial and international of the 16th century streets.

The Renaissance, which by its definition is the recovery of classic traditions, had to revalue the stone as a functional and decorative raw material.

With the earthquakes of 1531 and 1551, a new impetus was given to new streets, but it was with the great earthquake of 1755 that Lisbon started a huge project, not only for the reconstruction of buildings, but also for the opening of new streets and the recovery of old ones.

With the aestetic characteristics by which we know it today, the Portuguese pavement had as its main driver the governor of the São Jorge castle, in Lisbon, between 1840 and 1846, lieutenant-general Eusébio Cândido Cordeiro Pinheiro Furtado (1777-1861), that transformed the fortress and its surroundings into places of promenade, where flowers, trees and mosaic pavements were introduced. This work was done by inmates and the design used was simple, but the work became somewhat unique for the time, to the point that several Portuguese chroniclers wrote about it. The taste for the good taste and the aesthetic value of the stone, combined with its functionality, led the Chamber to recognize the excellent work of the military engineer Eusébio Furtado, with deep knowledge of Roman techniques, and to proceed with new initiatives of a landscape nature, with emphasis on the use of mosaic pavement. In 1848, Eusébio Furtado saw his project for Praça do Rossio approved, a work with an area of 8712 m2, completed in 323 days, where the paving called "Mar Largo" was introduced, in honor of the Portuguese discoveries. It was at Rossio that a new urban reorganization gave way to a safer circulation of passers-by, through the birth of the walk.

Lisbon's downtown has been transformed, with most of its streets paved with basalt, among them Largo de Camões, in 1867, Príncipe Real, in 1870, Praça do Município, in 1876, Cais do Sodré, in 1877, and Chiado, completed in 1894. Avenida da Liberdade opened in 1879 and, in 1908, it finally arrived at Marquês de Pombal, with wide sidewalks where beautiful and stunning design carpets were introduced, making Lisbon the reference city for this type of artistic pavement.

Thus, at the beginning of the 20th century, the Portuguese pavement emerged, perhaps the greatest contribution of our country in terms of quality in the "furnishing" of urban spaces, as stated by Francisco Pires Amaral and José Santana-Bárbara, authors of the work "Mobiliário dos Espaços Urbanos em Portugal".

The Portuguese pavement is an activity with history and tradition, the continuity of which proves to be quite problematic for many, both due to the increased maintenance costs of quarries and equipment, and due to the environmental and legislative difficulties that today, quarries face. Anyway, the use of the Portuguese pavement has gained many followers in the last 15 years, in addition to new customers with new needs, which have been and will be emerging, to which we can combine the emergence of major works at national and international level. The Portuguese pavement went from being used exclusively outdoors to decorating private and public interior spaces, both in residential construction, in commercial and office areas.

Characteristics

The Portuguese pavement obeys the rules established by the paving masters schools and included in the Manual da Calçada Portuguesa.

In general terms, it is characterized by the application of stones predominantly made of white and black limestone, or brownish-beige and pink-orange or reddish, although basalt and granite are also used. These stones of regular size and hand cut by the so-called calceteiros (pavers) are used to form decorative patterns. The joints must be uniform and obey the standard measure, and the stones based on a layer of stone dust or sand 4 to 15 cm high, depending on the dimension of the pavement to be applied. It is in this layer that the paving stones will be laid, which will prevent, in the future, deformations of the pavement and the consequent detachment of the stones.

Most used pavement measures depending on the applications

Pedestrian walkways and circuits - 5/7 cm
Streets with auto circulation, garages and parking lots - 9/11 cm or 12/13 cm
Artistic works - 4/5 cm

Variation in the thickness of the layer of stone dust or sand depending on the dimensions of the sidewalk.
Pavement dimensions (cm)	Stone powder / sand layer thickness (cm)
4/5	4/7
5/7	7/10
9/11	10/15
12/13	10/15

In addition, the joints should have a space greater than 0.5 cm, in order to reduce the risk of floor oscillations. This space between the different stones on the pavement is also variable depending on the dimensions used and should not exceed the following:

+ Variation in joint width depending on the dimensions of the pavement (approximate values).	Pavement dimensions (cm)	Space (joints) between the pavement stones (cm)
4/5	0,5
5/7	0,5/1
9/11	0,5/1,5
12/13	0,5/2

Most common colorations by type of application

Pavement shades, simple or combined with each other, are more or less used depending on the uses. Usually, each of them is used more in the following cases:

Pedestrian walks and circuits - White stone
Sashes and decorative motifs - Black and gray stone
Car parks and garages - White and light gray stone
Artistic motifs - White stone combined with black and / or pink stone.

White limestones are the most used in Portuguese pavement applications, and are present in most works. We can find this shade practically everywhere (on sidewalks, streets, squares, etc.).

Portuguese pavement in the world

After its implementation in Portugal, especially in Lisbon, where it took on significant cultural and artistic proportions, the Portuguese pavement spread around the world. It was even sent masters for the USA, Brazil, Africa, Timor and Macau to teach its assembly.

Currently, we can find it in Macau, United States of America, Spain, Brazil, Angola, Germany, Belgium, France and Qatar, among others.

Why create a tag for the Portuguese pavement?

Given the specificity of this type of pavement, whether in artistic, historical, cultural, economic, urbanistic and mobility terms, it is useful to create a tag that distinguishes it in the OpenStreetMap database, either for research for statistical purposes, for mobility analysis in urban environments or to identify public works of art and, therefore, for tourism purposes.

Considering that we are talking about the surface=sett tag, the Portuguese OSM community decided to take advantage of the sett sub-values (see Taginfo) to create a tag that specifies this style of paving and pave the way for others that may exist or appear in other parts of the world.

Therefore, it is proposed to use the following combination of tags to map floors that correspond to the Portuguese pavements:

surface=sett + sett:style=portuguese