The story of glazed tiles begins in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, some five thousand years ago. I remember being dazed by the brilliance of the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, built around 575 BCE-its deep blue bricks gleaming under the Mesopotamian sun, adorned with lions and dragons in radiant glazes in Berlin.
Even then, humans sought to immortalize beauty in clay and fire.

Centuries later, this legacy travelled through Persia, Central Asia, and North Africa, blossoming in the Islamic world. The techniques became ever more refined: tin-glazing, lusterware, cuerda seca-each method a reflection of both scientific inquiry and spiritual contemplation.

But it is in the Nasrid Palaces of the Alhambra in Granada that this tradition reached poetic heights. In these 14th-century halls, glazed tiles-azulejos and alicatados-clothe the walls like a second skin. Intricate stars, tessellations, and arabesques bloom across surfaces, their symmetry speaking of the divine order.

💠 Blue, green, white, gold-colours that whisper of paradise.
🕌 Geometry that draws the eye into infinity.
📜 Kufic and cursive scripts inscribed on tile surfaces carry verses of poetry and praise.

These tiles aren’t just decoration, they are devotion in fired clay.

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