The Academia Brasileira de Letras is a Brazilian literary non-profit society established at the end of the 19th century. The first president, Machado de Assis, declared its foundation on Tuesday, 15 December 1896, with the by-laws being passed on Thursday, 28 January 1897. On Tuesday, 20 July of the same year, the academy started its operation.
Facade of the Brazilian Academy of Letters
![Lúcio de Mendonça [pt], founder of the ABL.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Lucio_de_Mendon%C3%A7a_%28Iconogr%C3%A1fico%29.jpg/500px-Lucio_de_Mendon%C3%A7a_%28Iconogr%C3%A1fico%29.jpg)
Lúcio de Mendonça [pt], founder of the ABL.
The Petit Trianon in Rio de Janeiro, the seat of the academy since 1923.
The writer Fernando Henrique Cardoso, ex-President of Brazil, taking possession as a member of the academy in 2013.
Gonçalves Dias
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Antônio Gonçalves Dias was a Brazilian Romantic poet, playwright, ethnographer, lawyer and linguist. A major exponent of Brazilian Romanticism and of the literary tradition known as "Indianism", he is famous for writing "Canção do exílio", the short narrative poem I-Juca-Pirama, the unfinished epic Os Timbiras, and many other nationalist and patriotic poems that would award him posthumously with the title of national poet of Brazil. He was also an avid researcher of Native Brazilian languages and folklore.
A lithograph depicting Gonçalves Dias' best friend and confidant, Alexandre Teófilo de Carvalho Leal, taken from the third volume of the Panteão Maranhense
Manuscript of Dias' poem "Se te amo, não sei!", in his own handwriting. From the archives of the National Library of Brazil