Coimbra
Home to one of Europe´s oldest Universities
Coimbra - João Paulo
Coimbra lies on the Mondego river and from 1139 to 1256 it was the capital of Portugal. Lisbon became the capital once the Crusaders had taken the city from the Moors in 1147. However, Coimbra remained an important city with Portugals first university (and one of the oldest in Europe) being founded here in 1290 by King Dinis. The students library Biblioteca Joanna contains a vast number of books dating back to the earliest years of the University.
The university of Coimbra was radically re-organised by the Marquis de Pombal, Portugal´s great reforming statesman of the eighteenth century. Pombal broadened the range of subjects that were taught at the university and comissioned the creation of the vast botanical gardens that stretch over 20 hectares. The gardens were designed by an Englishman called William Elsden who was a favoured choice in Pombals numerous building schemes.
Roman Mosaic
Paulo Magalhães
The city contains many churches and cathedrals, the most famous church being the Augustinian Monastery of Santa Cruz in the centre of town. Originally created in the 12th century by Dom Afonso I it was rebuilt by Dom Manuel I in the 16th century. The Manueline style is a blend of the exotic and the gothic and the church combines intricate azulejos with carved stone tombs and a red and gold organ with three thousand pipes. Within the church is the Relic Chapel containing relics of the Saints for each month of the year.
St Anthony of Padua was ordained as a priest in the the old Cathderal, Se Velha, and this Cathedral is regarded as one of the finest examples of Romanesque buildings in Portugal. Above the Cathdral is the Machado de Castro Museum containing a wide collection of superb sculpture, spanning Portuguese works from the 14th to the 20th century.
14 km South of Coimbra lies the Roman ruins of Conimbriga. During the reign of Emperor Augustus this was a very wealthy Roman city and this site has become the largest excavated site in Portugal.
Hotels in Coimbra
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