This is what Livraria Lello & Irmão looks like currently, amidst a two-month long renovation project. (At least the interior scaffolding is gone.) I made a brief visit today, because we were tour guiding some visitors around town. I passed by 15 minutes before closing and noticed there were no queues, so I hurried over to fetch the visitors from a café near Clérigos Tower and we made a quick dash to the bookstore before they closed.
Mr. Dheo & Pariz One creating a new façade for Livraria Lello & Irmão bookstore (to cover scaffolding for 2 months)
The first thing I noticed at Lello was that they’ve added a second cashier desk under/behind the staircase, which will definitely help the crowding issue that tends to happen near the main till. There’s always a bottleneck near the door because people are waiting to pay there, while in the other direction people are trying to enter, and in the middle of all that, people block the doorway to take photos of the staircase. The problem hasn’t gone away with the second till, it’s just been lessened.
The other thing I noticed was the new ceiling. I’m not quite sure what to make of it, because I can’t tell if it’s glass or if they used another material. Here’s what it looked like in January:
Livraria Lello’s old ceiling
Something tells me the new ceiling is a different material that’s more opaque, but I would need to ask.
They’ve also done some rearranging to the upstairs to create a sit-down space amongst the books at the end opposite to the café. I’m not sure if the interior renovations are complete, but I’ll pop in again in the summer (if I can get another quiet slot like today, just before closing) with more time and see what else has changed.
Last month, I posted a video clip of street artists Mr. Dheo of Porto & Pariz One of Lisbon creating the new, temporary face of the bookstore:
From what I understand, once the renovations are complete the street art frontage will get taken down. Enjoy it while it lasts!
May 29, 2016
Album: Portugal [Spring 2016]