A Brasileira
Encyclopedia
The Café A Brasileira is one of the oldest and most famous café
Café
A café , also spelled cafe, in most countries refers to an establishment which focuses on serving coffee, like an American coffeehouse. In the United States, it may refer to an informal restaurant, offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches...

s in the old quarter of Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

, in the civil parish of Sacramento
Sacramento (Lisbon)
Sacramento is a Portuguese parish in the municipality of Lisbon. It has a total area of 0.08 km² and total population of 880 inhabitants ; density: 18,864.2 hab/km².-Main sites:*São Roque Church*Carmo Convent...

. Located at 120 Rua Garrett, at one end of the Largo do Chiado (Chiado Square), in the district of the same name
Chiado
Chiado is the name of a square and its surrounding area in the city of Lisbon, in Portugal. The Chiado is located between the neighbourhoods of Bairro Alto and Baixa Pombalina....

, near the Baixa-Chiado metro stop and close to the University, ensuring its café and terrace are never empty.

History

During the middle of the 19th century, the Hotel Borges is founded along the Travessa de Estevão Galhardo, in the proximity of the Hotel Universal (in the old Barcelinhos Palace, later the Chiado warehouses). The space is successively operated within the upper floors of the building, while a shop (operated by Ramiro Leão) functioned on the main floor. In 1868, Elie Bénard inaugurated a small bakery along Rua Garret at no. 104-106, while the Grande Hotel Borges continues to operate under its proprietor António Borges Areias (by 1883).

The A Brasileira was opened by Adriano Telles on 19 November 1905 at No.122 (an old shirt shop), to sell "genuine Brazilian coffee" from the State of Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, of which it is the second most populous, the third richest, and the fourth largest in area. Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the largest number of Presidents of Brazil, the current one, Dilma Rousseff, being one of them. The capital is the...

, a product generally unappreciated in homes of Lisboetas of that period. In order to promote his product, Telles offered each shopper, who bought a kilogram of ground coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...

 (for 720 réis
Portuguese real
The real was the unit of currency of Portugal from around 1430 until 1911. It replaced the dinheiro at the rate of 1 real = 840 dinheiros and was itself replaced by the escudo at a rate of 1 escudo = 1000 réis...

), a free cup of coffee. It was the first shop to sell the "bica", a small cup of strong coffee, similar to espresso
Espresso
Espresso is a concentrated beverage brewed by forcing a small amount of nearly boiling water under pressure through finely ground coffee. Espresso is widely known throughout the world....

. The founder, who lived in Brazil and imported his products, had no problem in importing coffee, goiabada, tapioca
Tapioca
Tapioca is a starch extracted Manihot esculenta. This species, native to the Amazon, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and most of the West Indies, is now cultivated worldwide and has many names, including cassava, manioc, aipim,...

, spices, tea, flour, in addition to wine and olive oils.

In 1907 the owner of A Brasileira opened a similar establishment in Braga
Braga
Braga , a city in the Braga Municipality in northwestern Portugal, is the capital of the Braga District, the oldest archdiocese and the third major city of the country. Braga is the oldest Portuguese city and one of the oldest Christian cities in the World...

, the A Brasileira (Braga)
A Brasileira (Braga)
A Brasileira is a café in Braga. It is located on the Largo Barão de São Martinho, in the historic city ....

.

In 1908, the Brasileira was remodelled by Manuel Joaquim Norte Júnior (1878-1962) in order to provide a café, and again in 1922, to re-orient the business model in order to sell drinks, in addition to coffee. Its redesign, completed by architect José Pacheco, was completed in the Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...

-style, with a green and gold entrance, and an interior that included mirrored walls, brass fittings, a long, oak bar and wooden booths.

The establishment of the First Portuguese Republic (5 October 1910), its associated liberties, and the installation of the Directório in the Largo de São Carlos (then renamed Largo do Directório) the Brasileira became a heavily transited café.

It was during the nascent Republic that numerous intellectuals, artists and literary writers began to walk through its doors. United by the poet-General Henrique Rosa
Henrique Rosa
-Interim President of Guinea-Bissau:He was interim President of Guinea-Bissau from 28 September 2003 to 1 October 2005. His appointment came following a 14 September military coup that deposed the elected government of President Kumba Ialá and subsequent talks between political officials, civil...

 (the adoptive uncle of Fernando Pessoa), many of the literary figures would help to establish the magazine Orpheu.

Between 1950-1960 the Brasileira was in risk of closing permanently.

By 1993, the café had weathered its mide-century financial problems, and had applied for funds from the Lisboa 94 Capital Europeia da Cultura program to remodel and restore the building.

Architecture

Exterior

The building is a narrow, two-floor rectangular plan (main floor and basement), with a front façade that includes the establishment name A Brasileira and respective address number. The narrow façade with a differentiated decoration, includes many polychromatic elements: an arched cement façade with inlaid windows; with two reclined figures on either end of the curves; a geometric, cornice-like entranceway with three separate double-doors (the central access being the largest), fronting onto Rua Garrett; and ornate handles and fixtures. Below the boilerplate, in relief, is the figure of a man taking a coffee, surrounded by curvilinear flourishments.

Interior

The long narrow hall includes mosaicked floors in alternating marble tiles (in black and white), a roof with ornamental friezes and square pillars along the walls, also decorated in sculpted wood. The room itself is painted in ochres, golds and reds, with brass fixtures intermingling with sculpted red woods. Between the pillars are mirrors, while at the far end of the café is a clock encased in a wooden decoration. The counter, is located on the right wall of the entranceway, while a staircase provides access to the kitchen located in the basement.

Culture

It was a favored haunt of intellectuals and academics, including Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa
Fernando Pessoa
Fernando Pessoa, born Fernando António Nogueira de Seabra Pessoa , was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic and translator described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets in the Portuguese language.-Early years in Durban:On 13 July...

, the writers Aquilino Ribeiro
Aquilino Ribeiro
Aquilino Gomes Ribeiro, ComL was a Portuguese writer and diplomat. He is considered as one of the great Portuguese novelists of the 20th century. He was nominated for the Nobel Literature Prize in 1960....

 and Alfredo Pimenta
Alfredo Pimenta
Alfredo Augusto Lopes Pimenta was a Portuguese historian, poet and writer.-Biography:Alfredo Pimenta, son of José Manuel Lopes Pimenta and Silvina Rosa, was born at Penouços in São Mamede de Alda, Guimarães. In 1890, living at Braga with his parents, he attended the Colégio Académico de Guadalupe...

. Fernando Pessoa would regularly enjoy absinthe
Absinthe
Absinthe is historically described as a distilled, highly alcoholic beverage. It is an anise-flavoured spirit derived from herbs, including the flowers and leaves of the herb Artemisia absinthium, commonly referred to as "grande wormwood", together with green anise and sweet fennel...

 and a sweet bica, while he continuously smoked, read or wrote.

Over its storied history and because of the initiative of José Pacheco, the walls of the Brasileira collected prominent paintings from artists. In 1925, the Brasileira began to exhibit the paintings of the new generation of Portuguese painters, that frequented the café: José de Almada Negreiros, António Soares
António Soares
António Soares was a Portuguese footballer, who played as a forward.- External links :* *...

, Eduardo Viana
Eduardo Viana
Eduardo Afonso Viana was a Portuguese painter. He was one of the members of the first modern generation in Portuguese painting, like Amadeo de Souza Cardoso and Almada Negreiros....

, Jorge Barradas, Bernardo Marques, José Pacheko and Stuart Carvalhais. These works were eventually sold to one buyer in 1969. This "museum" was renovated in 1971, with new paintings from painters of the epoch: António Palolo, Carlos Calvet, Eduardo Nery, Fernando Azevedo, João Hogan
João Hogan
João Navarro Hogan was a Portuguese painter and printmaker.João Hogan attended the Academy of Fine Arts for one year and then the National Society of Fine Arts in Lisbon while becoming a wood carver...

, João Vieira, Joaquim Rodrigo, Manuel Baptista, Nikias Skapinakis, Noronha da Costa and Vespeira.

A bronze statue of Fernando Pessoa, by sculptor Lagoa Henriques, was eventually placed outside the café in 1988, even though, ironically, Pessoa considered the Café Martinho da Arcada (on the Praça do Comércio
Praça do Comércio
The Praça do Comércio is located in the city of Lisbon, Portugal. Situated near the Tagus river, the square is still commonly known as Terreiro do Paço , because it was the location of the Paços da Ribeira until it was destroyed by the great 1755 Lisbon Earthquake...

 (founded in 1782), as his favorite café.

The University of Lisbon's Faculdade de Belas-Artes (Faculty of Arts) is located within the Chiado district, and its approximately 1300 students transit the quarter regularly, competing with tourists for open-air tables.

See also

  • Jorge Melício
    Jorge Melício
    Jorge Melício is a Portuguese sculptor. He was born in Angola in 1957 and has lived in Lisbon since he was seven years of age.-Biography:...

    hyperrealistic artist, contributed in the looks of the café with his painting
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