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In the Extremaduran town of Olivenza we see several pedestrian streets with the famous Portuguese cobblestones, with beautiful black and white drawings or motifs. One of the reasons is that this population until 1888 was part of Portugal.
Portuguese sidewalk, mosaic sidewalk or Portuguese mosaic is the established name for a certain type of floor covering used especially in the paving of sidewalks, public spaces and private spaces, generally. It is widely used in Portuguese-speaking countries.
The stones are laid on a base of sand and a layer of stone dust, on which stones measuring 4 to 13 cm² are placed, leaving the minimum possible distance between them. To close the joints, their surface is covered with sand or stone powder, which is watered and hit with a mallet to compact its base and ensure its correct settlement.
If the construction of the sidewalk includes decorative motifs or particularly complex mosaics, guide molds are usually used for placing the stones, made of wood treated to withstand the humidity of the process.
Pavers use the system of joining limestones (Joints) together with the help of a hammer, to make small adjustments to the stones and the use of templates to mark areas of different colors, so that the motifs are repeated throughout. linear sequence or in the two dimensions of the plane.
The geometry of the 20th century has shown that there is a limited number of possible symmetries in the plane: 17 linear and 7 in two dimensions.
Cobblestone pavements date back to Antiquity, but Portuguese pavement, as we understand it today, began in the mid-20th and 19th centuries, with irregular stones, where functional sidewalk techniques were combined, which was made with larger stones used to paving streets for vehicle traffic, with the decoration inherited from the mosaic.
In Lisbon, in 1842, the first black and white sidewalk was built, made of limestone and basalt, of which there is evidence. The design used in this pavement, which represented the sea in a simple zigzag, was very well received by society, having motivated Portuguese chroniclers to write about the subject.
The Portuguese sidewalk spread quickly through other areas of the city and shortly after throughout the country and the colonies, underlying an ideal of fashion and good taste, with the artistic sense being refined, which was combined with a concept of functionality, creating authentic masterpieces in pedestrian zones.
In recent decades, several cities around the world have been replacing their historic sidewalks, including Portuguese mosaics, with more practical and safer sidewalks. In the case of Verona and Seville, granite and marble slabs were adopted, preserving the historic floors in lateral strips.
Erected between pastures of holm oaks and cork oaks bathed by the largest reservoir in Western Europe, Olivenza looms, a Spanish town with a Portuguese soul whose history makes it a cultural reference for the Hispanic-U.S. line.
It was during its Portuguese period when the privileged and fortified town was built full of white houses, buildings with arcades with Manueline touches and cobbled lands that since 2019 has been considered one of the most beautiful towns in Spain.
Olivenza (Olivença in Portuguese) is a town located in the province of Badajoz. However, Portugal claims it. Its territory is located in the east of the Guadiana River, 23 km south of Elvas and 24 km south of Badajoz.
The town of Olivenza is located next to the intersection of the commercial roads 436 Badajoz-Villanueva de la Serena and 423 Olivenza-Don Benito. This territory includes, in addition to the town of Olivenza, seven more localities: San Francisco, San Rafael, Villarreal (Villa Real), Santo Domingo de Guzman (Sao Domingos de Gusman), San Benito de la Contienda (Sao Bento da Contienda), San Jorge de Lor (São Jorge da Lor) and Táliga (Our Lady of the Assumption of Talega).
The total area is 750 km2. Before 1801, it was part of the Portuguese province of Alentejo. However, the Portuguese government considered Olivença as belonging to the Portuguese district of Évora.
Until the middle of the 20th century, the mother tongue of the Oliventinos was Oliventino Portuguese, but as it was a prohibited language, taught only by oral transmission and limited to the family environment, it almost became extinct.
