The ALMARIA brings back to the interior of its apartments the Portuguese and the elements characteristic of the surrounding area and the local history and culture, making them absolutely special and unique in the city.
Raphael Bordallo Pinheiro is one of the most important personalities of 19th century Portuguese culture, with a remarkable production namely in the areas of humorous design, caricature and ceramic creation.
In 1884 he began his production of ceramics at the Fábrica de Faianças in Caldas da Rainha, revealing pieces of enormous technical work, artistic and creative quality, developing: tiles, panels, pots, table centers, busts, lavatory fountains, perfumers, vases and gigantic animals, etc.
His remarkable work in ceramics won a gold medal at international exhibitions (Madrid, Antwerp, Paris and the United States in St. Louis).
Founded in 1917 in the city of Guimarães, MAFIL is today one of the main manufacturers of cutlery at a European level.
The highlight is the silver cutlery, which consolidates the trajectory of quality and prestige, applying at its best the manual art, the knowledge and tradition of the Portuguese cutlery.
“The main work area is the lighting and the production of pieces of all kinds of structures that can be executed in iron, copper and brass.
In a shared work space, multidisciplinary and directed to reuse, we convert waste and unused materials into pieces with value and utility.
Inspiration comes from materials, color, shape, vestality and history.
Uniqueness is a result that comes naturally from the artisan hands that collaborate in this workshop. ”
The paintings present in all apartments throughout the building are an artistic creation of objects found in the building, the instruments that give name to the apartments were to be used in the former Officina da Real Casa that existed in the place, being now valued and exposed, returning the soul to this patrimony.
Already in the century. XV, a furnace for repairing the stained glass windows of the Batalha Monastery would have been installed in Marinha Grande.
Glass was obtained through the incineration of natural products with sodium carbonate.
It was already in the year 1748 that the Irish Beare transferred the factory that it explored in Coina to Marinha Grande as a consequence of the lack of fuel, coming to benefit from the proximity of Pinhal de Leiria.
The abundance of raw materials and fuel will provide the growth of the glass industry in the region.
However, it was only in 1769 that the Englishman Guilherme Stephens, with the charter of King João V and benefiting from all the support of the Marquis of Pombal, revived the factory, giving it a new impetus and prestige, applying the technique of blown manual glass , who gave the title to Marinha Grande of the Capital of Glass.
The first factory of glass production – the Royal Glass Factory of Marinha Grande – was created in the year 1769 by the Marquis of Pombal in favor of Guilherme Stephens.
Graduated in graphic arts in Barcelona by Escuela Joso in 2009 Graduated in sculpture by the faculty of fine arts lisbon in the year 2012.
It highlights the organic forms of nature in his sculpture, as well as looking for a record of the passage of time in the process of material transformation.
António Aires de Abreu was the artist invited by Almaria – Buildings with History to give life to the furnace present in the Officina Real building until then dormant.
