Lello is once again elected as the world’s most beautiful book place

Livraria Lello was elected as “The most beautiful book place in the world.”, this time by the world platform One Thousand Libraries (1000 Libraries), the biggest online community for fans of libraries and bookshops in the world.

The vote results were released on August 30th, by the promoter of the initiative, being that Livraria Lello received the title of ‘The Most Beautiful Book Place’, followed by Shakespeare & Company (Paris, France), and Dujiangyan Zhongshug (Dujiangyan, China), in second and third places respectively.

The international contest counted with 15 finalists, and votes from 200 thousand internauts worldwide.

The most beautiful libraries of the world were also eligible, as Real Gabinete Português de Leitura, located on Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was elected for the podium of the three most beautiful libraries in the world.

Throughout the years, Livraria Lello has stood out for its asset, architectonic and cultural value. Lello was mentioned for the first time as ‘The Most Beautiful Bookshop in the world’, by the Spanish writer Enrique Vila-Matas, in an article published in the El País newspaper.

In 2008, the British newspaper The Guardian considered it one of the most beautiful bookshops in the world, and three years later, in its guide Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2011, the travel publisher mentioned as one of the best worldwide, describing it as “a pearl of new art”.

In 2015, Time magazine placed it between the most interesting bookshops in the world, highlighting its historic and artistic value, and CNN considered it the most beautiful bookshop in the world. A year later, National Geographic also makes the same assessment. The platform 1000 Libraries joins this list in 2023.

Livraria Lello, located on Rua das Carmelitas, in Porto’s downtown, is also a Public Interest Monument since 2013, and awaits reclassification as National Monument by Direção-Geral do Património Cultural (DGPC).