The plan for the day was to visit the museum of ceramics in Triana. Triana was an important hub of ceramics from the 12th to 20th century. As usual, we saw a lot of interesting things on the way. Neil came along for a morning walk as far as the Torre Sevilla before returning to the apartment to work.
Neil deduced this was construction related – the pipe vacuumed up debris from digging (it’s really loud).Roof rainwater recycling system by the Torre de SevillaOn one of the many bridges across the Guadalquivir River. Sevilla is Spain’s only inland port. Its name comes from Arabic and means “great river”.We left Sevilla (for about 3 minutes)I am enamoured with the courtyards. The kids and I have been brainstorming about creating one in the sunroom.There are no more operating ceramic factories today. The area is filled with artisans that still work using the traditional methods and, of course, pottery shops.One of the larger kilns where workers laid/shovelled wood for firing. In the past, olive branches were used, and more recently, pine and eucalyptus wood.These are the almágenas, large jars that stored the liquid pigments for the painters.This is a muffle furnace, which is a small kiln for delicate pieces that require special conditions and temperatures. The chamber isolates the pieces from gas and other fumes.Mill stone to grind components of enamel. This is much older than the factory, and was thought to have been used by the Romans. The site is close to large deposits of the two types of clay used in the ceramics factory: blue clay from the banks of the Guadalquivir River and lizard clay from the Aljarafe region. The blue clay is very organic and malleable, while lizard clay (named because it’s the the colour of lizard skin) was inorganic and siliceous. Together, this mix created the perfect balance of clay that could be easily worked and fired without cracking.Drying shelves for the pieces before they went in the kiln.Kids diligently reading about the different techniques of painting the ceramics.Giant kiln.These kilns were built in the early 20th century.Watching a video about the different people who worked in the ceramics factory.Thanks where clay was mixed with water and then beaten or kneaded with feet to form potter’s clay.Looking down at the remains of a 16th century kiln found during the building of the museum.One of the ways to paint the ceramic was using a stencilled drawing. The ceramist would use a punch with sachet of coal dust to perforate the paper and outline the design on the tiles.Mills to grind minerals for the pigments. Each mill ground a specific colour.Shelves in a kiln.Still in the ceramics museumChimneys from the kilns – the different colour of smoke and flame the chimneys emitted indicated the progress of the firing. Yellow and white smoke meant the process was closer to being done.Decoration for the Plaza de EspañaCard holder from 1892. 53 cm in diameter. Who has that many cards?Surrender of GranadaThis beautiful panel was made in 1880.Apothecary jars from 1752This was a well-head from the 12-14th centuryStaring down some contemporary pottery art (he liked this one quite a bit).The consensus was speech bubbles regardless of what the artist intended 🙂Lunch stop by the Puente de Triana, on the Paseo de Nuestra Señora de la O.The view from our lunch bench – Triana bridge.Checking out the Alley of the Inquisition by our lunch spot, one of the routes to the Castillo de San Jorge.We popped in and out of numerous tile shops and watched various artists at work (photos were not allowed).The kids really like the tile clocks but we weren’t convinced we could bring them home intact.
Moving on to other sights in the neighbourhood …
Daily mandatory stop at a playground 🙂Rounded off the day with gelato with Neil. Chocolate sin azucar (no sugar) for Felix, Neil and me; mint for Lara, and strawberry for Nolan. After this second round of gelato, the kids convinced us to buy them fresh smoothies every couple of days from the grocery store instead. Reasons given: gelato was really expensive at €3 per small cone (smoothies were €1.69 for 1L), the gelato was way too sweet so they felt sick after eating them, and the smoothies were much healthier as they were made solely from fresh fruit. End of another busy day in Sevilla!20 km for our jaunt in Triana neighbourhood4.5 km for our evening walk with Neil
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2 thoughts on “Centro Ceramica Triana”
you 5 are learning a lot. There is so much public art in Spain. Why?
you 5 are learning a lot. There is so much public art in Spain. Why?