The reading room
Shelves to the ceiling.
Felipe Restrepo Acosta — CC BY-SA 4.0 · GiFontenelle — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Stegop — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Sir Velpertex di Crantx — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Royal Portuguese Cabinet of Reading, the Real Gabinete, is one of the most beautiful libraries in the world and holds the largest collection of Portuguese literature outside Portugal. It was founded in 1837 by forty-three Portuguese immigrants, many of them political refugees, to promote culture among their community in what was then the capital of the Brazilian empire. Its present home was built between 1880 and 1887 in Neo-Manueline style, recalling the architecture of the age of the Portuguese discoveries. Emperor Pedro II laid its cornerstone and his daughter Princess Isabel opened it. The façade is inspired by the Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon; its stone was carved in Lisbon and shipped to Rio. Inside is a soaring reading room with carved wooden shelves rising in tiers to a stained-glass ceiling and a huge chandelier. Entry is free on weekdays, and it is a working reading room, so quiet is expected.
Shelves to the ceiling.
And great chandelier.
Lisbon stone.
Rua Luís de Camões 30, central Rio de Janeiro
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