Café Majestic, Porto

Café Majestic is a historic café on Rua de Santa Catarina, known for its richly decorated interior and long cultural life. Its architect was João Queirós, and the café opened in 1921 under another name before adopting “Majestic” the following year. Look at the marble frontage: its initials sit above the entrance between carved child figures, creating a playful contrast with the formal stonework.

Inside, tall mirrors alternate with lamps in worked metal, making the long room appear larger than its actual size. A winter-garden courtyard was added in 1925, and the basement, once devoted to billiards, now contains an art gallery. In the late 1960s, sculptor José Rodrigues and painters Armando Alves, Ângelo de Sousa and Jorge Pinheiro formed an artists’ circle here; their ironic name referred to their art-school results.

The guest book bears signatures from Portuguese and French presidents, and a ceremony connected with the end of Portuguese administration in Macau took place here. J. K.

Rowling’s biography also places her writing here before she left Porto in 1994. The café reopened after restoration in July 1994, and its atmosphere remains its most compelling feature: mirrors, carved wood and plaster decoration turning a place for coffee into a theatrical interior.