Lusophone cultural institution
Royal Portuguese Reading Cabinet
The institution was founded in 1837 by a group of forty-three Portuguese immigrants, political refugees, to promote culture among the Portuguese community in the then capital of the Empire.
It was the first association of this community in the city.
The current headquarters building, designed by the Portuguese architect Rafael da Silva e Castro, was built between 1880 and 1887 in the Neo-Manueline style. This architectural style evokes the exuberant Gothic-Renaissance style in force at the time of the Portuguese Discoveries, known as Manueline in Portugal as it coincided with the reign of D. Manuel (r. 1495–1521).
The Emperor D. Pedro II (1831–1889) laid the cornerstone of the building on June 10, 1880, and his daughter, the Princess Isabel, together with her husband, the Conde d’Eu, inaugurated it on September 10, 1887.
The façade, inspired by the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos in Lisbon, was crafted by Germano José Salle in lioz stone in Lisbon and brought by ship to Rio. The four statues that adorn it depict, respectively, Pedro Álvares Cabral, Luís de Camões, Infante D. Henrique and Vasco da Gama. The medallions on the facade depict, respectively, the writers Fernão Lopes, Gil Vicente, Alexandre Herculano and Almeida Garrett
The interior also follows the neo-Manueline style in the shutters, wooden shelves for books and commemorative monuments. The ceiling of Reading Room It has a beautiful chandelier and an iron-structured skylight, the first example of this type of architecture in Brazil. The hall also has a beautiful monument made of silver, ivory and marble (the Altar of the Fatherland), 1.7 meters high, which celebrates the age of discoveries, held at Casa Reis.
Open to the public since 1900, the Royal Cabinet library has the largest collection of Portuguese works outside of Portugal. Among the approximately 350,000 volumes, national and foreign, there are rare works such as a copy of the edition “princeps” by The Lusíadas of Camões (1572), the Orders of D. Manuel (1521), the Capitols of Cortes and Leys that on some of them they made (1539), the True information from the lands of Prester Joam, according to the testimony and writing of Father Francisco Alvarez (1540), a manuscript of the comedy “You, only you, pure love” by Machado de Assis, and many others. Every year, it receives around six thousand titles from Portugal. There is also an important collection of paintings by José Malhoa, Carlos Reis, Oswaldo Teixeira, Eduardo Malta and Henrique Medina. Every day, it receives, on average, one hundred and fifty visitors. Among its illustrious visitors from the past are the names of Machado de Assis, Olavo Bilac and João do Rio.
In July 2014, the library was listed in 4th position among the 20 most beautiful libraries in the world according to Time magazine (magazine). The publication highlighted its history, architecture and rich collection of Portuguese-speaking works.
Opening Hours
Monday to Friday, from 10 am to 4 pm