A Brasileira has long been one of the oldest and most emblematic cafés in Lisbon, a meeting point for intellectuals of yesteryear. It is a centenary space that preserves its original charm and elegance but keeping its cultural nature very much alive.

Aiming to pay homage to its regular customers in an original way, A Brasileira invited the illustrator Nuno Saraiva (who already collaborates with the digital newspaper Mensagem de Lisboa, which emotional headquarters are in A Brasileira) for a flash of inspiration and creativity to brighten up the terrace. The new tablecloths bring traces of life in Chiado and are a tribute from A Brasileira to Lisbon residents and tourists from all over the world who parade around its tables, terrace, and sidewalk – now, literally! – in this more than a century most iconic café in Lisbon.

On them the famous and anonymous who make up the colorful mosaic of the regulars of A Brasileira are portrayed: Amália Rodrigues, Júlio Pomar, Almada Negreiros, Beatriz Costa, Saint António, Almeida Garrett – who, although having died before the café existed, lends the name to the street – and, of course, the poet Fernando Pessoa looking at his own statue, accompanied by the reflection of his three heteronyms reflected in a shop window. But also the anonymous, no less relevant, who pass by every day, giving life to the café.

Nuno Saraiva is an author and professor of comics and cartoons, and an illustrator. He collaborated with a large part of the Portuguese press, designed the Lisbon Festivities and has more than a dozen exhibitions on his portfolio. And now there’s also this piece that many café customers ask to take as a souvenir. The tablecloths will be officially launched at an event with the author, on February 8th, at 6:30pm. On that day, come and talk to Nuno, at A Brasileira. Subscribe and read the complete article by journalist Álvaro Filho, in the Lisbon Message, here.

About A Brasileira do Chiado

Opened on November 19, 1905, in Chiado, A Brasileira was created by Adriano Telles, a former Portuguese immigrant in Brazil. With the freedom achieved in the period following the implantation of the republic in 1910, and due to its privileged location, A Brasileira do Chiado became one of the most popular cafés in Lisbon at the time and was the setting for countless intellectual, artistic and literary gatherings. Renowned writers and artists like Fernando Pessoa and Almada Negreiros found in A Brasileira do Chiado the inspiration for paradoxical concepts and ideas. It was in A Brasileira do Chiado that the expression “bica” was created, which would be the abbreviation for “drink this with sugar” (in Portuguese “beba isto com açúcar”), an incentive to make coffee (a novelty at that time), more pleasant for customers, while creating them a habit and marking a ritual.

A Brasileira do Chiado has kept its identity intact, both due to the specificity of its decoration and the symbolism it represents as it is linked to intellectual circles. Classified as a building of public interest since 1997, it is today one of the oldest and one of only three cafés in Lisbon that have remained open throughout the 20th century. A Brasileira do Chiado has always been a truly iconic spot of the city of Lisbon, earning its place among the most emblematic places in Chiado, as one of the most visited and photographed in the entire city.

The Brasileira do Chiado is a brand of the Value of Time Group, since March 2020.

www.abrasileira.pt