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![Faiança [Faience]:](https://www.cm-coimbra.pt/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/1_4_1276x616_acf_cropped.jpg)
The development of faience production in Coimbra was essentially due to the city’s prolific pottery community, driven by the fact that it is a centre par excellence for the paper trade routes, taking advantage of the link provided by the Mondego River between the inland and the coast.
The first half of the 18th century was the golden time of Coimbra’s faience production. Craftsmen numbers rose and the production quadrupled. This success was essentially due to the low cost and the excellent durability of the pieces, being the current faience (more robust pieces and simpler forms) the most requested, not synonymous with lack of technical excellence, but rather a purely commercial option; various types of pottery were produced here, from the cheapest, to the noblest faience, characterised by high technical quality and made from the best clays and loams, having export as the main destination. The most traditional colours used in the dishes of Coimbra are cobalt blue, sepia, yellow, and green, and the most typical pieces are fish mugs, all kind of dishes, ewers, pots and jars.
Even to this day, pieces from the Sociedade Cerâmica Antiga de Coimbra, Lda. can still be found, this being the maximum example of the continuity of secular traditions in the pottery of Coimbra.
Até aos nossos dias sobrevivem ainda peças da “Sociedade Cerâmica Antiga de Coimbra, Lda.” sendo este o exemplo máximo da continuidade das tradições seculares na olaria Coimbrã.