La versión en español está después de la versión en inglés.
While walking the streets of the city of Segovia (I didn’t make a penny), I was immediately taken by the unusual facades of the buildings. The technique is called esgrafiado and is produced by applying a base layer of plaster and covering it with a contrasting layer of lighter weight plaster. Then, using a stencil, a design is scraped away before the top layer hardens. It’s also referred to as Moorish-patterned wall decoration. I don’t know why other cities, given similar history, don’t also have these decorative facades but I could spend days exploring those in Segovia. Interestingly, I had a dream last night about dropping my own facade. It wasn’t pretty. I think I’ll continue to hide behind it.
There’s no end in sight to the European heat wave. Nick wrote yesterday from Colchester, England, to say it was hotter there than it was here. We’re grateful for air conditioning and well-sealed windows. I’ll make another foray to the roof with laundry. That might be it for my day in the sun. I’ve misplaced both my hats.
Mientras paseaba por las calles de Segovia (no gané ni un céntimo), me cautivaron de inmediato las inusuales fachadas de los edificios. La técnica se llama esgrafiado y consiste en aplicar una capa base de yeso y cubrirla con una capa de yeso más ligero y de color contrastante. Luego, con una plantilla, se raspa el diseño de la pared antes de que la capa superior se endurezca. También se la conoce como decoración mural de estilo morisco. No sé por qué otras ciudades, con una historia similar, no tienen también estas fachadas decorativas, pero podría pasarme días explorándolas en Segovia. Curiosamente, anoche soñé que me deshacía de mi propia fachada. No fue un sueño bonito. Creo que seguiré escondiéndome tras ella.
La ola de calor europea no parece tener fin. Nick me escribió ayer desde Colchester, Inglaterra, para decirme que allí hacía más calor que aquí. Agradecemos el aire acondicionado y las ventanas bien selladas. Subiré de nuevo a la azotea con la ropa tendida. Puede que ahí termine mi día al sol. He extraviado mis dos sombreros.
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Esgrafiado……..I like it. Yes, I wonder why it didn’t ‘take off’ in other Spanish cities.
Been hearing about that heat wave in Europe. ….take care you two.
Jim,
The heat is not completely unheard of in Cordoba but we’ve had an unusually consistently hot June. A break for one day tomorrow. It’s only supposed to reach 32C!
Stay cool, nasty heat. A coworker and I were discussing money one day (this was 45 years ago) and I remarked that there was always working the streets, the response was “with what men expected when I was giving it away, I’d hate to think what they would expect if they were paying for it!”
David Godfrey,
Oh god. Yes, I hate to think! Hilarious.
I thought the esgrafiado was tiling. How amazing it’s a sculpture effect. That would have taken quite some time to do the entire façade of a building!!
We are back in heat mode, as well, so it’s inside after breakfast and until after dinner, when it cools down a bit.
Bob,
Yeah, I guess my first image of the souvenirs was misleading. I’ve been reading about the process. Unbelievable.
That’s wonderful design. I thought tiles at first, too. Pretty labor intensive and maybe specialized. Boud
Boud,
The artisans continue.
Well, I have to say that some people have very beautiful and interesting facades, not unlike buildings. I wonder what the world would be like if we all dropped our masks, our facades. And I also wonder why we are so afraid to do so.
Ms. Moon
Mary Moon,
Surprisingly, I’ve dropped the facade at times when blogging. Maybe even more than I do in real life, except with seriously good friends.
Oh! I love that esgrafiado. I love that art is incorporated into everyday buildings. Reminds me of all the tiled houses in Portugal of which I took many pictures.
esgrafiado also sgraffito (of which I’m familiar as an art technique usually applied to pottery) translated to ‘scribbled’.
Ellen Abbott,
Yes, Italian sgraffito. Such a cool process. And, oh the tiled houses in Portugal. Breathtaking.
Interesting — I don’t remember those facades at all from my visit to Segovia many years ago. I was probably drunk on red wine. (I was 25!)
Steve,
I’m pretty sure they looked like that when you were 25, although it WAS a really long time ago! The perils of boozing.
Yes, thank God for AC. I hate being hot!
Michael,
When I’m inside I can’t tolerate the heat.
What an interesting technique! I don’t ever remember learning about it in school.
Kelly,
I never learned about this either. So much I still don’t know.
It certainly is rather hot in London, and there are red alerts for tomorrow and Thursday’s temperatures! Hey ho. Better than the months of drizzle that usually constitutes a “British summer”.
That is a very unusual technique for decorating buildings. I’m not sure I’m that keen on it, to be honest. It reminds me a bit too much of designs that were popular in the 1960s and 70s – Artex walls and ceilings, pierced concrete breezeblocks, Brutalist shopping centres. that sort of thing. Jx
Jon,
I hadn’t thought about the mod connection, but you’re right. Still I love this particular style in the city. You might like it better in person (or you might not).
Given the extreme heat wave in Europe, I’m surprised the facades aren’t all melting off! Meanwhile, we’ve had cool, rainy weather since Victoria Day, complete with thunder storms, high winds, hail and a dozen tornados. The scary part is that we haven’t had the daytime heating that usually contributes to such weather. Between El Nino and climate change, it feels like the jet stream has retreated to the north pole, LOL!
Tundra Bunny,
Bizarre weather. This is the time of year I think of rain… but not tornadoes.
As Marilyn said in the Seven-Year Itch…“When it gets hot like this, you know what I do? I keep my undies in the icebox!” Of course, my balls don’t like it.
And I ADORE the facades! I have always been drawn to tile like facades like that.
Mistress Maddie,
I knew nothing about this style until I started walking around the city. I love it.
I suppose the ice box would be overkill. A built-in fan might be nice.
Be careful, Mitchell. I’ve been reading stories about people succumbing to that heat wave.
Kirk,
So dangerous. Two hours of walking that day, mostly in the sun, was too much. And no hat! I’m usually smarter than that. Usually.