Stucco coatings are, certainly, as old as the millenarian art of air lime coatings.

Their characteristics, where plasticity and resistance are central, allowed that the use of this material became an integral and complementary part of a broad period of our Portuguese architecture.

In the evolution of its use it was known the important result of the work connection between artists and craftsmen, which allows us to emphasize that stucco has to be analyzed with an autonomy and an independent artistic character, being confirmed as a decorative art par excellence.

In the lands where Portugal was born, stucco marks its presence since the Neolithic Period.

But, if the Middle Ages was not a favorable period for the manifestation and continuity of the art of stucco in spite of its importance in the architecture of Magreb, the Renaissance brought the revival of the art given by this material.

The XIX century shows artistic expressions from the XVIII with some signals of an outstanding social decline, and the XX century takes the art of stucco to a little noble use and basically functional in our architecture, accelerating a disinterestedness in this decorative art.

Nevertheless, the examples of this art, of this artistic movement, are so important in our country that, its analysis, dissemination, study of its preservation through the construction of a data base, is culturally essential to better know the extensive heritage created by this material.

The First International Seminar now organized around the presence of stucco in Portugal will create conditions to face our responsibility of not condemning to oblivion an important Property of the artistic culture of our country.

05.- Patrimonio Cultural