Anyone going down the spiral ramp of the Marquês de Herval building is surprised by a charming bookstore located there in the basement: Livraria Leonardo da Vinci.
Located in Rio de Janeiro's commercial district, at Avenida Rio Branco 185, the Bookstore has a history of resistance and resilience.
Bookstore entrance during the #NãoAtaxação campaign
Image description: The image shows a bookstore called "Livraria Leonardo da Vinci". On the left, there are shelves full of books in various colors. In the center, there is a blue door with glass panes and an entrance sign. On the right, there is a black panel with the bookstore's logo and the name "Livraria Leonardo da Vinci" in white. In front of the panel, there is a chalkboard with the phrase "RICOS POR AQUI" and a hashtag "#NÃOATAXACAO".In 1952, the immigrant couple Andrei Duchiade and Vanna Piraccini opened a gallery devoted to importing foreign works in the Edifício Delamare, on Avenida Presidente Vargas. The choice of name was no accident. That year marked the 500th anniversary of the birth of the Renaissance artist favored by Donna Vanna, as the owner would come to be known. Four years later, they decided to move to the building on Avenida Rio Branco, where it still stands today (they also had short-lived branches in Copacabana and in Porto Alegre).
Donna Vanna was responsible for choosing imported works in English, French, Italian, and German, which she personally selected in Europe, gathering treasures sought after by intellectuals, artists, students, academics, and politicians.
Bookshelf of books that defend the Anti-racist cause
Image description: The image shows a section of books in a bookstore. On the left side, we see a stack of books with colorful covers, including a book with the title "Angela Davis" prominently displayed. In the center, there is a sign with the title "Biblioteca Antirracista" and a black-and-white photo of a person. On the right, more books are arranged on a shelf, with covers in various colors. In the background, we see shelves full of books organized alphabetically.The death of Andrei Duchiade, in 1965, was a hard blow for the bookstore, which was further hit by a suspicious fire in 1973 and, sometime later, a serious economic crisis.
In 2015, Milena Duchiade, daughter of Andrei and Vanna, announced that she would close the bookstore's doors, and a great commotion took over the city. But that ended up not happening because bookseller Daniel Louzada, manager of Livraria Saraiva for 17 years, acquired all the shares and took command of one of the most traditional bookstores in Rio. Louzada has been making changes to modernize Livraria Da Vinci while, at the same time, keeping alive the memory of the bookstore, which is a traditional cultural hub of the city.
One of its most famous regulars was the writer Carlos Drummond de Andrade, who documented the bookstore's daily life in several works, such as in the poem "Livraria," written shortly after the 1973 fire.
This post was written by historian @luciene.carris.
