Lisbon - Cafe A Brasileira

In 1922 the Cafe "A Brasileira" (The Brazilian Woman) established itself on the Largo do Chiado. The cafe developed from a shop selling coffee founded in 1905. A Brasileira became a famous meeting place for intellectual writers, journalists and artists.

A peculiarity of that time was that the owner allowed paintings to be hung in the cafe; these were portraits by the young Almada Negreiros, who thus achieved a much visited exhibition. In the meantime they have become museum pieces, having been replaced by the present pictures, and now hang in the Centro de Arte Moderna.

The course of time has altered the style of the cafe. In order to be able to cope with and take advantage of the summer influx of tourists the cafe has extended on to a platform on the pavement.

On the occasion of the 100th birthday of Fernando Pessoa a bronze memorial to the poet was placed outside the cafe; his regular cafe was, however, the Martinho da Arcada on the Praça do Comércio.