Bisalhães Black Pottery

Bisalhães pottery is black because of how it is fired. Pieces are thrown or hand-built from local clay, burnished with a stone, then fired in a soenga - a pit dug in the ground, loaded with pots and covered with wood, broom and earth, so that the fire is starved of oxygen and the smoke reduces the clay to a deep matt black, then buried to smother the flames. The technique is prehistoric in origin and survives in a handful of places in Iberia. The forms are cooking and serving ware, with the pucarinho, a small drinking pot, and pieces for the São Pedro fair in Vila Real each June, where the black pottery has been sold for generations. UNESCO inscribed the craft in 2016 on the list needing urgent safeguarding: fewer than ten makers were active, most elderly, and there was almost no succession.

The main sights

• The soenga firing - a covered earth pit that reduces the clay to matt black.
• The burnishing - surfaces polished with a stone before firing.
• The forms - cooking ware and the small pucarinho drinking pots.
• The UNESCO listing - inscribed in 2016 with fewer than ten active makers.

When to go

Year-round, but firings are occasional and not scheduled for visitors. Late June brings the São Pedro fair in Vila Real, where the pottery is sold in quantity.

What to expect

Very few makers remain and workshops are homes - arrange a visit rather than turning up. Firings happen a few times a year and cannot be booked. The village has no facilities. The June fair is the most reliable way to see the ware.

Nearby

Vila Real and the Mateus palace are east; the Douro valley is south.