Centro · Rio de Janeiro

Confeitaria Colombo

An 1894 tearoom whose Belgian-mirror salon is a city monument in its own right.

Landmark building

About the building

Confeitaria Colombo occupies its original building at Rua Gonçalves Dias 32–36, a pedestrian street in the heart of old commercial Centro near Largo da Carioca. The double-height main salon — floor-to-ceiling Belgian crystal mirrors framed in jacarandá rosewood, Italian marble counters, a stained-glass skylight — is one of the most photographed interiors in Brazil and is protected as state heritage.

It still operates daily as a confeitaria and restaurant, and regularly appears on international lists of the world's most beautiful cafés. The surrounding blocks of Gonçalves Dias and Rua do Ouvidor keep the scale and facades of the belle-époque downtown.

Address: Rua Gonçalves Dias 32, Centro, Rio de Janeiro

History

Two Portuguese immigrants, Joaquim Borges de Meirelles and Manuel José Lebrão, opened the Colombo on 17 September 1894. Between 1912 and 1918 the salons were rebuilt in art nouveau style, with the giant mirrors shipped from Antwerp — the look the house has kept ever since.

Through the 20th century it served as a meeting point for presidents, writers and artists of the old capital, and it has stayed in continuous operation across three centuries of city life.

What's around

Metrô Carioca (L1/L2) 3 min walk
Largo da Carioca 2 min walk
Theatro Municipal / Cinelândia 7 min walk
Praça XV / Paço Imperial 10 min walk
Uruguaiana shopping district 4 min walk

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