A space with History
The history of A Brasileira do Chiado carries with it many other stories. It has been through many time periods, political systems and turning points in Portugal’s history. Through it all, it has maintained its essence and perpetuated the memories of many artists and anonymous patrons who have found here a place unlike any other, for over a hundred years.
Inspiration in the past
The history of A Brasileira do Chiado carries with it many other stories. It has been through many time periods, political systems and turning points in Portugal’s history. Through it all, it has maintained its essence and perpetuated the memories of many artists and anonymous patrons who have found here a place unlike any other, for over a hundred years.
A Brasileira was opened on 19 November 1905 in Chiado, in a premises that was once a shirt shop. The business was started by Adriano Telles, a Portuguese emigrant who married the daughter of one of the largest coffee producers in Minas Gerais, Brazil, before returning to Portugal. Here, he started to sell coffee, unknown at the time and an unpopular drink due to its bitter taste. With an eye on the obstacles that might prevent his customers from enjoying Brazilian coffee, he implemented the idea of creating a coffee shop where the product could be sampled, and he started giving away cups of coffee as a form of advertising.
The plush interior décor made A Brasileira a rendezvous point for the great and the good of the day: lawyers, doctors, teachers, writers, and artists. It was also a meeting point for revolutionaries who eventually took part in establishing the Republic in 1910.
With the freedom achieved in the period after the establishment of the Republic, and its privileged location, A Brasileira do Chiado became one of the most popular cafés in Lisbon at the time and was the scene of numerous intellectual, artistic and literary gatherings. Renowned writers and artists such as Fernando Pessoa and Almada Negreiros found at A Brasileira do Chiado the inspiration for paradoxical concepts and ideas.
Fernando Pessoa’s regular presence prompted the unveiling of the bronze statue sculpted by Lagoa Henriques in the 1980s, showing the writer at a table in the café’s outdoor seating area.
With the importance it took on in Portugal’s cultural life, A Brasileira do Chiado still keeps its identity intact – for the specificity of its decoration and the symbolism due to links with intellectual circles.
Designed by architect Manuel Norte Júnior, one of the most notable architects of his generation and winner of five Valmor and Municipal Architecture Awards and two honourable mentions, the design of the luxurious, Parisian-style façade has become an image of the brand. Classified since 1997 as heritage of public interest, today it is one of the oldest cafés in Lisbon, and one of only three that survived the entire 20th century and remain open. In 2017, the municipality of Lisbon distinguished A Brasileira with the award “Stores with History”, awarded based on the interest of its activity over the years and the existence and preservation of material, cultural and historical heritage.
A Brasileira do Chiado has always been a truly iconic space in Lisbon, earning its place of prominence among the most emblematic establishments of Chiado, as one of the most visited and photographed in the whole city.
Brasileira do Chiado is a Valor do Tempo Group brand since March 2020.
Stories in A Brasileira
a brasileira do chiado on
exhibition at mnac
On 25 June 2021, MNAC — National Museum of Contemporary Art — hosted the opening of an exhibition about A Brasileira do Chiado that tells the story of an art revolution through the café’s modernist paintings, marking the 50th anniversary of the second generation of paintings. The Museum is showing some of the paintings used as wall art in 1925 and a collection of (largely unpublished) documents about the redecoration carried out in 1971, namely, photographs of the paintings being hung on the walls.
One hundred years ago, A Brasileira took the place of MNAC as the first modernist museum in Lisbon, receiving upon its walls works by the extraordinary generation that included Almada Negreiros, Stuart Carvalhais, and Eduardo Viana.
Throughout its 116-year history, A Brasileira has provided a stage for culture and for those who make it, promoting the kind of progress that only art can move forward. A Brasileira do Chiado and its History are proof positive that the economy and culture can and should come together for mutual benefit. Both improve when thoughtfully combined, getting art to more people (thus making it more valuable as it touches more and more hearts) and raising the economy to a whole new, widely embracing level that goes far beyond mere money.
Today, as before, A Brasileira continues to fulfil its purpose as a driver for change and a stage for artistic effervescence. It does so every time people meet at one of its hexagonal tables, but especially in every story told in Mensagem de Lisboa, born where Almada wrote part of his famous Manifesto. Today, as then, we believe that we can play a part in change.
The exhibition is on until 26 September 2021 at MNAC and is curated by Maria de Aires Silveira and Raquel Henriques da Silva.