--- title: "Lisbon's Chiado Burned in 1988. Its Old Shops Are Still Trading" url: https://quietmenace.com/travel/lisbon-chiado-craft-guide/ author: Quiet Menace Editors section: Travel published: 2026-10-30 updated: 2026-10-30 topics: City Guides, Travel Guides, Heritage Brands --- # Lisbon's Chiado Burned in 1988. Its Old Shops Are Still Trading > A tiny glove shop that sells by the quarter size, a hatter on Rossio since 1886 and a bookshop that claims to be the oldest still trading. A walking guide to the old shops of Chiado and the Baixa. In 1988 a fire broke out in the Grandella department store in Lisbon's Chiado and ran along Rua do Carmo and Rua Garrett, the two main shopping streets of the district. It damaged 18 buildings, killed two people and injured 73. The architect Álvaro Siza Vieira led the rebuilding, which was largely finished by 1999, and today most visitors walk through Chiado without knowing it burned. On Rua do Carmo, at number 87A, a glove shop founded in 1925 is still selling gloves. That shop, Luvaria Ulisses, is the best reason to come to this part of Lisbon with a shopping list rather than a camera. The city has kept an unusual number of old specialist shops, and many of them sit within a ten-minute walk of each other. ## A district built twice Chiado is named after a 16th-century poet, António Ribeiro Chiado, and the name dates to about 1567. The district, like the Baixa below it, was rebuilt after the earthquake of 1755 under the Marquis of Pombal, and through the 18th and 19th centuries it filled with shops, cafés and theaters. The Teatro Nacional de São Carlos opened in 1792, and cafés such as A Brasileira became meeting places for writers and artists, the poet Fernando Pessoa among them. The Baixa is the grid of streets below. Chiado sits on the hill above it. The easiest way between them is the Elevador de Santa Justa, an iron lift designed by Raoul Mesnier du Ponsard. Its bridge opened on August 31, 1901, its car began running on July 10, 1902, and it was converted from steam to electricity in 1907. It rises 45 meters from the Baixa to Largo do Carmo, and from the top you look straight down Rua do Carmo. ## Gloves by the quarter size Luvaria Ulisses is tiny. [Time Out](https://www.timeout.com/lisbon/shopping/luvaria-ulisses) calls it exactly that, and the whole shop is a wall of drawers with the gloves filed inside by size, color and material. Sizing runs in quarter steps, and the shop sells leather gloves alongside lace, crocheted and sporting styles, with linings of fur, cashmere or silk. Visit Lisboa lists it on its historic shops route for made-to-measure leather gloves. The detail that matters is the after-sales care. Time Out reports that repairs are free and unlimited. A pair from here is meant to be brought back, which puts Ulisses in the same tradition as the bespoke houses in our [Naples Chiaia tailoring guide](https://quietmenace.com/travel/naples-chiaia-tailoring-guide/). Go with time to spare, because the shop is small and you may have to wait your turn. A few things help when buying gloves anywhere. Try them on with your hand flat and then with a fist, since a glove that fits an open hand can bind when you grip. Leather gives a little with wear, so a snug first fit is fine, but the fingertips should not be pulled tight. Think about the lining too. Silk keeps a glove slim for city wear, while cashmere or fur is warmer and bulkier. Then ask the staff, who will have seen more hands than you have. ![A cluttered shoe repair workbench under a hand-painted Sapateiro sign](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1790253719855-e6f58150fc7f?w=1600&h=1067&q=80&auto=format&fit=crop) *A neighborhood sapateiro, or shoe repairer, in Lisbon's Entrecampos district, north of the center. Photo by Timur Seyfelmlyukov on Unsplash* ## Hats on Rossio At the bottom of the hill, on Rossio square, Chapelaria Azevedo Rua has sold hats since 1886. Time Out says it is the only survivor of the hatters that once filled the square. Its address is Praça Dom Pedro IV, numbers 69 and 72 to 73, and the hats are stacked to the ceiling. The stock is the reason to go. Alongside berets, Panamas and bowlers, Time Out points to black rabbit-felt hats of the kind worn by Portuguese horsemen, and a style that Fernando Pessoa favored. A good felt hat is a harder purchase than a pair of gloves, so have them fitted properly and ask how to store it. ## The oldest bookshop and the rest of the route Back up the hill, Livraria Bertrand trades from Rua Garrett 73 to 75. Its origins go back to 1732, when Pedro Faure opened a bookshop near the current site, and Guinness has recognized it as the oldest operating bookstore in the world. The sources wobble on the details. Wikipedia's article on Chiado gives 1747 as the opening date, and its article on Bertrand dates the Guinness record to both 2010 and 2011. The 1755 earthquake devastated the original shop, and the business returned to the rebuilt district on Rua Garrett in 1773, where it has stayed. Visit Lisboa's historic shops route lists more than a dozen other old businesses worth looking up. A selection, with the founding years the city tourism office gives: | Shop | Founded | What to buy | |---|---|---| | Livraria Bertrand | 1732 | Books, especially Portuguese authors | | Caza das Vellas Loreto | 1789 | Handmade candles | | Confeitaria Nacional | 1829 | Bolo-Rei and pastries | | Chapelaria Azevedo Rua | 1886 | Felt hats, berets, Panamas | | Sapataria do Carmo | 1904 | Handmade shoes | | Luvaria Ulisses | 1925 | Leather gloves, fitted | | Conserveira de Lisboa | 1930 | Tinned sardines, mackerel and tuna | The route also takes in Cutelaria Polycarpo for handmade knives, Tabacaria Mónaco on Rossio for cigars and pipes, and Barbearia Oliveira for razors, shaving brushes and a shave. If that last stop appeals, read our [straight razor shaving guide](https://quietmenace.com/grooming/straight-razor-shaving-revival/) first. ## How to walk it Start at the bottom. Take the Santa Justa lift up, or climb, and begin on Rua do Carmo with gloves. Walk up to Rua Garrett for Bertrand and the cafés, then loop back down to Rossio for hats and tobacco. The whole circuit is short enough for a morning, which leaves the afternoon for the river. Treat the opening hours with caution. Small family shops close for lunch, for holidays and sometimes for no stated reason, so check each one before you plan a day around it. The point of shopping here is the same as in our [Kyoto craft guide](https://quietmenace.com/travel/kyoto-craft-guide/) or the workshops of [Florence's Oltrarno](https://quietmenace.com/travel/florence-oltrarno-pitti-uomo-guide/). You are buying from people who expect you to come back. More in our [city guides](https://quietmenace.com/topics/city-guides/) and the full [Travel section](https://quietmenace.com/travel/), and the [Visit Lisboa historic shops route](https://www.visitlisboa.com/en/lisbon-stories/21-percorso-negozi-storici) has the full list. The fire took 18 buildings. It did not take the trades. Buy a pair of gloves on Rua do Carmo and you are buying from a shop that has been fitting hands for a century. --- Filed under: [City Guides](https://quietmenace.com/topics/city-guides/), [Travel Guides](https://quietmenace.com/topics/travel-guides/), [Heritage Brands](https://quietmenace.com/topics/heritage-brands/) Hero image: Photo by Timur Seyfelmlyukov on Unsplash (Unsplash License)