Majestic Café is an iconic café in Porto, one of the oldest cultural centers in Europe. It is located in the historical building, which dates back to the 1920's. Visitors can find it on the corner of the main shopping street of Porto, Rua da Santa Catarina. Café is highly popular among tourists due to its fascinating architectural style of exterior and interior. Moreover, it is considered to be the sanctuary of Portugal coffee tradition, the place where you can taste countless flavors of coffee!
It must be said that Majestic Café was opened in 1921 by the neat title "Elite". It functioned as a private club and actually was not very popular under such a name which sounded too exclusive. Hence, it was later renamed into "Majestic Café". Built under the supervision of the architect João Queiróz, the premises perfectly reflects the style Art Nouveau, which was popular back in the day. Overall, the style and the second name of the café are primarily inspired by the glamour of La Belle Époque.
The building invites you with its floral ornaments, two columns and two boy sculptures on the facade and inside you can see the lavish decorations, filled with elevated aura. Here, the jet-set of the city used to meet and discuss ideas over the cup of coffee or ice-cream. However, everything has its ups and downs, so did Majestic Café.
During World War II, due to the war tax, the luxury of the café gradually lost its flare, until it became quite vacant and decrepit. However, in 1983 it was claimed to be the Place of Public Interest. As a result, Agostinho Barrias, who was into the old cafés, decided to invest in the restoration of Majestic. The renovation meant purchasing furniture and creating decorations resembling the originals, which overall took about eight years. Nevertheless, due to Fernando Barrias finding the photos of true Majestic Café, the interior was painstakingly reconstructed to embody its high spirit again! Since 1994, Majestic has been active and managed to squeeze into the Top-10 best things to do in Porto.
Every day you can see here thousands of tourists, queueing up at the entrance and packing the insides. But do not be afraid - the fast stream of people also means that the tables are generally quickly become available. So, if you're a coffee lover or an architecture fan - or maybe both! - be sure to visit Majestic Café to have a fragrant coffee with a delicate dessert and to enjoy its really majestic views!
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