The Rooster of Barcelos

The Rooster of Barcelos is a clay figure, vividly coloured and decorated with hearts and flowers, that has become one of Portugal’s most widespread symbols. Born of the craftsmanship of the city of Barcelos, in the district of Braga, the rooster crossed borders as an image of the country and as the foremost expression of the figurative pottery of the Minho, sustained by a long tradition of earthenware making.

The founding legend

The origin of the symbol is bound up with a medieval legend associated with the Way of Saint James. Tradition holds that a Galician pilgrim, passing through Barcelos on his way to Compostela, was accused of a crime he had not committed and sentenced to death by hanging. Brought before the judge, who was feasting, he is said to have pointed to a roasted rooster set on the table and exclaimed that, as surely as he was innocent, that rooster would crow at the moment of his hanging.

The magistrate scorned the claim, but, as the pilgrim was being executed, the rooster rose and crowed. The judge rushed to the gallows and found the condemned man still alive, saved by a poorly tied knot in the rope. Set free, the man is said to have returned to Barcelos years later to have a wayside cross erected in thanksgiving to the Virgin and to Saint James.

The Rooster of Barcelos is one of the rare cases in which an object of popular craftsmanship has become independent of the narrative that gave rise to it, coming to stand on its own as a collective icon.

From the wayside cross to the clay figure

The piece that gives material form to the legend is the Cruzeiro do Senhor do Galo, a granite monument dating from the early 18th century and originating in Barcelinhos, now preserved in the Archaeological Museum of Barcelos, housed in the ruins of the Paço dos Condes de Barcelos. On it, beneath the crucified Christ, appears the rooster that evokes the miracle.

The clay figure we know today is, however, a more recent creation. The potters and figurine-makers of Barcelos, heirs to a solid ceramic tradition, established the type of the rooster with its high crest and raised tail, painted in bright colours on a dark background and adorned with floral motifs. This production forms part of the wider world of traditional Barcelos pottery, from which also come saints, nativity scenes and other popular figures.

National symbol and living heritage

The rooster’s leap to becoming an emblem of the country took place in the 20th century. The figure gained prominence following Portugal’s participation in the Exhibition of Popular Art in Geneva in 1935, and was successively promoted, in the following decades, as a tourist and identity image of Portugal. It thus became an indispensable presence on posters, souvenirs and craft displays, crossing the boundary between the regional object and the national symbol.

It continues to be produced by craftspeople of the region and displayed at the weekly market of Barcelos, held on Thursdays, one of the largest traditional markets in the country, and at local festivities such as the Festa das Cruzes. As a manifestation of Portuguese figurative and popular art, the rooster converses with other clay traditions of the country, such as the renowned figurative pottery of Estremoz, reaffirming the place of ceramic craftsmanship in Portuguese cultural identity.