Portugal's endangered pavement artists

DW (English)

The artistic mosaics on Portugal's streets and squares are a hallmark of the local culture. But the craft is in danger. There are hardly any well-trained traditional pavement artists left, and some Portuguese see the mosaics as a problem.

Transcript

00:01Calçada Portuguesa is a Portuguese hallmark.

00:05Traditional paving, often with elaborate patterns.

00:10But walking on these cobblestones can be uncomfortable and even dangerous.

00:15Does this traditional craft still have a future?

00:18We asked around in Lisbon, the Portuguese capital.

00:21Hello, my name is Vitor and I am a paver, sadly one of the last here in Portugal.

00:34Although Vitor Graça is already 58, he only learned the craft of paving ten years ago.

00:40Before that, he was a fishmonger and ran a restaurant.

00:43But Portuguese calçada fascinated him.

00:46Today, he is using small cobblestones to inscribe a church's consecration year.

00:55I saw how beautiful the mosaics were.

00:59And just like a great love starts small, it has grown stronger and stronger.

01:06And this love has never left my heart.

01:12Not all of Lisbon's residents share his passion.

01:18Diogo Martens has difficulty navigating the stones with his wheelchair.

01:23His wheels often slip on the uneven surface, worn smooth over the years, forcing him onto the road.

01:29You lose control and then you have to find out how to gain control again.

01:40In this situation, if I was not with another person that helped me, I would certainly get injured.

01:50And also, I have a situation where I broke my wheelchair.

01:54Diogo struggles with the cobbles, as does Mario Alves from the International Federation of Pedestrians.

02:02They say the stones don't belong in a modern, accessible city.

02:05It is very dangerous. It is something that we know for decades now.

02:14Lisbon is a city with very elderly population.

02:19If an elderly person breaks the leg, it can mean death after a few months.

02:25The mosaics are also a tourist attraction.

02:28And the Lisbon city administration wants to preserve the calçada portuguesa.

02:35Focusing on good quality paving is safer, according to this training center where Vitor learned his trade.

02:42Teacher Nuno Serra says that fewer and fewer pavers care about craftsmanship.

02:48The more square meters a paver finishes in a day, the more money he earns.

02:59So he sets more stones, but the work is sloppy.

03:03If the paving is bad, it's because the pay is bad.

03:06Calçada portuguesa recently became a candidate for UNESCO cultural heritage status.

03:17Its proponents hope this will improve the image of the paving method and make it safer.

03:23People will see our paving work differently.

03:28And here in Portugal, it will make us work even harder to do the best work we can.

03:43But paving stones everywhere? Even in modern neighborhoods?

03:47Detractors Mario and Diogo believe that only the mosaics with artistic merit should be preserved.

03:52In 98% of the city, we have just normal sidewalks.

03:58They don't really belong to a certain heritage.

04:02If we preserve well where the calçada is needed to preserve,

04:06we can do much better than trying to disperse our efforts to do good calçada everywhere.

04:12Even Vitor would agree with that.

04:15As long as he can continue to do his dream job.

04:17I'm a paver. I don't want to do anything else. The calçada isn't going to disappear.

04:27In 30 years, everything will be better. And there will be pavers again.

04:33Vitor is convinced that Lisbon, a city both modern and aware of its traditions, has room for both.

04:38Safe, modern sidewalks, and the artistic, traditional calçada portuguesa.

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