Revere Harry Potter Birthday In The World’s Most Beautiful Bookstore – Near the beginning of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone it says that “tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry’s eleventh birthday.” July 31 doesn’t fall on a Tuesday very often. Most readers of that first book assumed that, because it was published in 1997, Harry attended Hogwarts during the 1990s. And what better place to celebrate Harry Potter birthday than the place that was the inspiration to the story and is also one of the best-kept Secrets from Portugal?

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Happy Birthday Harry Potter

One of the dearest Secrets from Portugal Livraria Lello, in Porto, Portugal was opened by brothers José and António Lello in 1906, who were both lovers of literature and were part of Portugal’s intellectual groups of the time.

The store became a prominent hangout for famed writers and avid readers, and that reputation continued through the years—all the way to J.K. Rowling‘s time. Rowling was a loyal customer at the bookshop. Customers have often noted the resemblance between the shop’s architectural features — like its twisting grand staircase — and designs in Rowling’s imagined Harry Potter world.

Lello is often featured as one of the world’s most stunning bookstores. Its architecture is very impressive. So impressive, that it has inspired J.K. Rowling’s depictions of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts.

The neo-Gothic building has a stained-glass skylight that illuminates the shop, wood-carved handrails, Art Deco detailing on the walls, a detailed plaster ceiling, and a glass door guarding the shop’s oldest books of rare first and collectors editions.

The bookstore, which used to have a printing shop, became a popular tourist attraction for Brazilians who often saw encyclopedias in their grandparents’ libraries from the shop, according to communications manager Manuel de Sousa.

Nowadays, Lello bookstore is a popular attraction for travelers who come to peruse the books and admire the whimsical design. An entrance fee of three euros allows visitors to wander through the shop’s corridors and books.

See Also:

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Source: Sothebys