If you have walked through Chiado, you have probably seen him.
A bronze man sitting at a table outside Café A Brasileira, on Rua Garrett, usually surrounded by people taking photos.
That man is Fernando Pessoa.
He is one of the most important writers in Portuguese literature and one of the figures most closely connected to Lisbon.
The statue was created by sculptor Lagoa Henriques and placed outside A Brasileira in 1988, marking 100 years since Pessoa's birth. The café itself opened in 1905 and became an important meeting place for Lisbon's writers and artists. Pessoa was one of its regular visitors.
But there is something unusual about Fernando Pessoa.
He did not just write under different names; he created entire writers.
His three best-known heteronyms were Alberto Caeiro, Ricardo Reis and Álvaro de Campos. Each one had a different personality, biography and writing style. Bernardo Soares, the author associated with much of The Book of Disquiet, was described by Pessoa as a semi-heteronym.
In total, Pessoa created more than 100 literary figures during his life.
Most of his work was not even published while he was alive.
When Pessoa died in 1935, he left more than 25,000 pages of writing. Much of what made him internationally famous was organised and published only after his death.
📍 PLACES CONNECTED TO FERNANDO PESSOA IN LISBON
A Brasileira, Chiado
This is where you will find the famous bronze statue.
The café was also associated with the Orpheu group, an important generation of Portuguese modernist writers and artists.
Martinho da Arcada
Another historic café strongly connected to Pessoa, located under the arcades of Praça do Comércio.
It opened in 1778 and still keeps a table associated with the poet. Pessoa spent a lot of time here during the final years of his life.
Casa Fernando Pessoa
If you want to understand more about the man behind the statue, visit his former home in Campo de Ourique.
Pessoa lived in this building during the final 15 years of his life. Today it is a museum dedicated to his work, life and extraordinary collection of literary personalities.
You are looking at one of the most unusual figures in Portuguese literature, a writer who created not only poems and books, but entire authors to write them.
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