Portugal: Coimbra

The Paco das Escolas (University Palace)

Today we are visiting Coimbra (pronounced Qweem-bra), Portugal's fourth largest city (after Lisbon, Porto ... and Braga) with a population of 140,000. It is principally famous for its ancient university.

We decided to start our visit however on the left bank of the wide Mondego river by visiting the Mosteiro Santa Clara a Velha (the old Santa Clara Monastery - there is a much newer one nearby. The monastery was completed in 1330 under the sponsorship of Queen Elizabeth of Aragon. It consisted of a Romanesque church with side aisles of the same height as the nave and a large Gothic cloister. Unfortunately, it was built on low ground near the river and was immediately flooded. the ground floor was raised repeatedly and in the 17th century a higher floor had to be built inside the nave. Soon after the nuns relocated to a new convent on higher ground and the monastery was abandoned.

This is what it looks like now after significant renovation works in the 20th century.

 There are some beautiful capitals.

And here is a view along the nave showing the upper level. I have never seen a church like it.

The site is now insulated from further risk of flooding by a curtain wall and is effectively an archaeological site accompanied by an interesting Interpretation Centre (sadly with labels in Portugese only).

Next we crossed the river to get our first view of the University buildings high on a hill on the right bank ...

... with also a nice view along the river towards the new Pedestrian Bridge, with a new road bridge beyond it.

We made the climb up to the magnificent Paco das Escolas - it is a UNESCO World Heritage site - with impressive buildings on three sides (the fourth is left open and offers a view over the river. The university was originally in Lisbon but was transferred to Coimbra in 1537.

On the left side is the Old (or Joanine) Library (it is dead centre in the view above) which dates from 1711. From the outside it looks fairly austere ...

... however a tour takes you in via the basement, enabling you to see the Academic Prison (used up to 1832 for naughty students) - apparently the most severe punishment was reserved for destroying a book. The third floor reveals an astonishing interior divided into thirds with elaborate gold decorations and ceilings. Photography is not allowed, hence this postcard. One very surprising discovery was the library is home to a colony of bats whose mission is to eat insects and especially moths this helping to  preserve the books.

Nearby is St Michael's chapel, which dates from the 11th century but was renovated in the 16th. The organ of 1733 is said to be its outstanding feature, but we preferred the azulejos (tiles). Again no photos are allowed, so here is another postcard.

The other great feature of the Paco das Escolas is the imposing statute of King Joao III who founded the University in 1537 in what was then the royal palace. It is hard to avoid the comparison with his contemporary, Henry VIII.

To conclude our visit we went to see the (old) Cathedral, or Sé. It was built in an austere, fortified romanesque style and was consecrated in 1184 on the site of a 10th century basilica destroyed in 1117. The north facade has an attractive, if discordant, remaissance portal.

It has an imposing romanesque cloister with many carved capitals located at an odd angle to the church. It dates from 1218.

Inside the cathedral, there are some lovely azulejos, painting from various periods and a renaissance chapel from the 16th century.

Conditions: grey, about 16 degrees.

Distance: about 3 miles in all from where we parked near the Santa Clara Monastery.

Rating: 5 stars.