If the bookstore has that quality, you surely like to spend a little more time while browsing. Some bookshops have this effect on you. If you are looking for atmosphere and history in a bookstore, you cannot go wrong with the famed Lello & Irmao Bookshop, locally known as Livraria Lello, in Portugal’s port city of Porto- the English call it Oporto. This century-old bookstore is regarded as the “Third Best Bookshop in the World”. The heritage bookshop was first established by a Frenchman called Ernesto Chadron in 1869 and was called ‘International Bookshop.’ With his untimely death it changed several hands and ultimately was bought by the Lello family which still owns it.
Situated on Rua das Carmelitas street near the historical centre of the city with its Lions Square, the façade of the bookstore is in neo- Gothic style with two figures painted by José Bielman, representing Science and Art. But that is only the beginning.
Step inside and you will be welcomed by a stunning interior designed by Xavier Esteves. The building was inaugurated on
January 13, 1906, by the owners, the Lello family. It was an important social event at that time and was attended by famous people from different spheres – among them Guerra Junqueiro, one of the greatest European writers.
Photography is prohibited inside the bookstore unless management relents in special cases. Indeed it was an experience to go round the bookstore. The most striking element on entering the art nouveu styled bookstore is a beautiful, spiral staircase designed in the likeness of the Galleries Lafayette of Paris. The staircase forms the main artery of the building surrounded by a wooden panelled ceiling in stained glass with Lello’s motto “decus in labore”- there is honour in labour.
The beautiful carved bookcases going from the first floor to the second floor are jam-packed with books of every hue and size on a mind-boggling
range of subjects which number
somewhere in the region of
120,000. While many are for sale,
others, especially very old ones are
now only for exhibition, encased on
glass-enclosed bookshelves.
A quaint touch to the bookstore is
added by the grids on the floor- like
railway tracks. In old days it was
meant for wheelbarrows to carry
heavy volumes of books from the entrance
to the shelves.
J. K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame
lived in Oporto for ten years as an
English teacher. She had frequently
visited the Lello bookshop and spent
hours on the coffee shop upstairs
while browsing, and scribbling perhaps.
It is said that the library at the
Hogwarts of the Harry Potter series
is in the mould of this bookshop with
the beautiful pink staircase swirling
upstairs from the centre of the premise.
Inside, the bibliographic section
has more than 60,000 titles available
to the public. Besides the magazine
and CD sections there is a permanent
gallery for artists to display their
work. The first floor has a tea room
which even has the original old-fashioned
money transaction box.
The bookstore has become such a
milestone destination of Oporto that
after almost 90 years when the
building showed signs of wear and
tear, the public as well other agencies
helped to restore it to its former
glory.
That a bookstore can become one
of the most visited places for locals
as well as tourists keeps the faith
alive that the printed word can never
go out of fashion – even in a digital
world.
