Find out the connection between the famous bookshop and Harry Potter
Oporto is a city that breaths through each of its corners history, tradition, and, above all, magic. And there is no most magical place than the neo-gothic library Lello e Irmão. This library is the perfect place for the lovers of books, especially for those who grew up reading about the adventures of the most famous wizard of all times: Harry Potter.
The writer of the saga about the boy with the scar in form of a lighting bolt, J.K. Rowling, lived in Oporto for several years, between 1991 and 1993, working as an English teacher in the afternoon, dedicating the mornings to her great passion: writing. And between pages and pages, ideas, blur and blur, she walked amongst the high shelves of one of the most beautiful libraries in the world (and it’s not us who says so, specialized publications as The Guardian or Condé Nast Traveller say it).
But let’s go to the important thing, what’s the relationship between Lello e Irmão, already known as the “Harry Potter bookstore”, and “The Boy Who Lived? Easy: it was part of her inspiration. The muses appeared in three different places: the stairs, the rails and wagons, and the high shelves.
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In the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry the stairs are moving constantly; of course, thoseoh the Lello are well attached to the ground, but its serpentine shape gives us a sensation of movement. The rails and wagons that once moved books from one shelve to another, have a close resemblance with the ones that are used in the Gringotts Wizarding Bank, to move gold bars from one room to another. And those shelves, where every good book lover would be lost for hours, takes us directly to the Diagon Alley, to the Flourih&Blotts bookstore, to get our Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them book, for the new school year.
So, you see, in Oporto we have magic within reach. And who knows? Maybe you’ll a small Niffler searching for something golden among your belongings.
Livraria Lello e Irmão opens from 10:00 am to 7:30 pm. You must buy a 5€ ticket before entring.
