Real Gabinete Português de Leitura

On a narrow Downtown street, Rua Luís de Camões, near Praça Tiradentes, the Royal Portuguese Reading Room (Real Gabinete Português de Leitura) holds one of the most beautiful libraries in the world. Behind its lace-like stone façade opens a reading room that seems to come out of a storybook — and that often appears on international lists of the most stunning libraries.

The institution was founded in 1837 by a group of Portuguese immigrants to promote culture within the city’s Portuguese community. The current building was designed by Portuguese architect Rafael da Silva e Castro. Its cornerstone was laid in 1880 — the 300th anniversary of Camões’s death — in the presence of Emperor Pedro II, and it opened in 1887.

The style is Neo-Manueline, reviving the Portuguese late Gothic of the Age of Discovery, inspired by the Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon. The façade stone was carved in Lisbon and shipped to Rio. It features statues of great figures from Portuguese history, such as Camões and Pedro Álvares Cabral, amid the ornaments typical of the style.

Inside, the reading room is the main event: three levels of wooden bookcases packed with books from floor to ceiling, an iron chandelier and a stained-glass skylight that lets in a soft light. The collection holds about 350,000 volumes — the largest collection of Portuguese works outside Portugal.

Among its rarities is an edition of The Lusiads (Os Lusíadas) from 1572, the year Camões’s epic poem was first published. And the Real Gabinete still works as a library, with readers and researchers, which gives the visit a special feel: it is a living place, not just a backdrop for photos.