Interstício (2025)

Interstício marks the space between two moments in the life of Livraria Lello. Just as in 2018 we left a small smile etched into the stained glass window to record the moment when our century-old building regained its authenticity and splendour, today we present this work to signal a new phase in our history — the one that leads us into the future, in the year we celebrate our 120th anniversary.

The title of this installation comes from a luminous word: interstice — the space between two stones, two instants, two worlds.
Italo Calvino reminds us that an arch stands only when every stone finds its place. None holds the structure alone; it is the relationship between them that creates balance, meaning and beauty. Livraria Lello is built in the same way: part by part, gesture by gesture, in the harmony between what memory safeguards and what the future begins to reveal.

Interstício reflects precisely this creative interval.
Conceived by Paulo Lobo, the work is a surface that mirrors the present, widens our perspective and opens the path towards the Siza Chapter, the first project by Álvaro Siza, Pritzker Prize laureate, in the heart of Porto. It expresses the architectural signature that defines Siza’s work: transforming while preserving, containing while respecting, designing the future without severing the dialogue with the past. This delicate balance between what exists and what emerges inspires the installation we now present.

The mirrors expand the interior and invite each visitor to step into this metamorphosis.
Livraria Lello has always been a home for readers; today, it also affirms itself as a place of hospitality. To be more Porto means deepening the way we welcome: with authenticity, generosity and beauty. In this spirit, we open the way for a new chapter — a space that enhances the experience of those who visit us and broadens the possibilities of reading, encounter and discovery.

In Interstício, every reflected face becomes part of the greater arch that sustains Livraria Lello.
By welcoming each visitor, we fulfil our mission: to inspire the world to read.
And through this interval of mirrors, we offer a glimpse of what lies ahead: a Livraria Lello that is broader, closer, more Porto, more world.