Santa Maria Maior
Café Chave d'Ouro
On the first floor of this café on the Rossio, on 10 May 1958, Humberto Delgado answered “Obviously, I’ll sack him!” (Obviamente, demito-o!) when asked what he would do with Salazar if he were elected.
On 10 May 1958, General Humberto Delgado’s candidacy for the Presidency of the Republic was presented to journalists, including foreign ones, at a press conference in the Café Chave d'Ouro, on the Rossio. According to João Paulo Guerra, it was Raul Rego, the campaign’s press officer, who called the session and helped to prepare it, on the first floor of the café.
He was asked what he would do with the President of the Council (head of government) if he were elected. The answer — “Obviously, I’ll sack him!” (Obviamente, demito-o!) — set the country alight and marked the whole campaign. According to Wikipedia, the question was asked by Lindorfe Pinto Basto, of France Presse. In a photograph from the Torre do Tombo National Archive released by the Commemorative Commission for the 50 Years of 25 April, Delgado appears at the table with Aquilino Ribeiro, Rolão Preto, Vieira de Almeida and António Sérgio.
According to the blog Restos de Colecção, the café had been founded in 1919 and, in the 1940s and 1950s, was a meeting place for the opposition; in its place, on 22 May 1961, a branch of the Banco Nacional Ultramarino opened, now belonging to the Caixa Geral de Depósitos.
The Rossio, where the café stood, would fill up again six days later, when Delgado returned from Porto and the National Republican Guard (GNR) chased and beat his supporters in the Baixa.
On the walks
From the archives
In other archives
These can only be viewed on each archive’s own website.
Where it is
Map showing where Café Chave d'Ouro is.
Dates
10 May 1958
Press conference presenting Humberto Delgado’s candidacy: “Obviously, I’ll sack him!”
22 May 1961
A branch of the Banco Nacional Ultramarino opens where the café stood (according to Restos de Colecção).
People connected with this place
Nearby
10 m · 5 min on foot
Rossio (Praça de D. Pedro IV)
Today: Praça D. Pedro IV
On the Rossio, the GNR charged Humberto Delgado’s supporters in 1958 and the police put down the May Day demonstration of 1962. On 25 April 1974, Salgueiro Maia’s column passed through here, among the crowd, on its way to the Carmo.
OppositionLabourStudents
100 m · 5 min on foot
Café Gelo
Today: Gelo, a seafood restaurant since 2024
A café on the Rossio where, between 1957 and 1962, the “Café Gelo Group” of dissident poets and painters used to meet; the group was banned from entering it after May Day 1962.
Culture and censorshipOppositionRepression
120 m · 5 min on foot
D. Maria II National Theatre
Today: D. Maria II National Theatre
The national theatre, in the Rossio. Maria Barroso made her debut here in 1944 and was José Régio’s “Benilde”; in 1948, an order from the police and the Ministry of Education took her off this stage. The company that ran it worked under censorship until the fire of 1964.
Culture and censorshipWomenRepression
140 m · 5 min on foot
Church of São Domingos
Today: Church of São Domingos
As 1968 turned into 1969, more than a hundred Catholics kept a vigil here against the colonial war. For that night, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen wrote the “Cantata da Paz” (Cantata of Peace): “We see, we hear and we read / We cannot ignore” (Vemos, ouvimos e lemos / Não podemos ignorar).
OppositionColonialismCulture and censorship
Notes on the sources3
- Exact location of the former café on the Rossio and its street number: the coordinates are those of the square. There is a Caixa Geral de Depósitos branch on the adjoining Praça D. João da Câmara (OSM node 2493312081), but it has not been confirmed that it is the Chave d'Ouro building.
- The name of the journalist who asked the question (Lindorfe Pinto Basto, of France Presse) has only been read in Wikipedia.
- The current use of the building: a bank branch, first of the Banco Nacional Ultramarino and now of the Caixa Geral de Depósitos, according to the blog Restos de Colecção.
Do you know more, or do you have a document? Tell us.
Sources
- 1Candidatura de Humberto Delgado – uma jornada de resistência. Museu do Aljube Resistência e Liberdade (EGEAC) — consulted on 2 October 2026
- 2Delgado: Um vendaval varreu o País (João Paulo Guerra). esquerda.net — consulted on 2 October 2026
- 3O general sem medo. Comissão Comemorativa 50 Anos 25 de Abril — consulted on 2 October 2026
- 4Candidatura de Humberto Delgado à Presidência da República – conferência de imprensa no café Chave d'Ouro (fotografia, cota 11635.005.003). Casa Comum – Fundação Mário Soares e Maria Barroso — consulted on 2 October 2026
- 5Café Chave d'Ouro. Restos de Colecção (blogue) — consulted on 2 October 2026
- 6Humberto Delgado. Wikipédia — consulted on 2 October 2026
- 7As eleições de 1958 em fotografias. RTP Ensina — consulted on 2 October 2026
Coordinates: OpenStreetMap (Nominatim), consultado a 2 de outubro de 2026.