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COIMBRA |
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COIMBRA was Portugal's capital from 1143 to 1255 and it ranks behind
only the cities of Lisbon and Oporto in historic importance. Its
university, founded in 1290 and finally established here in 1537 after a
series of moves back and forth to Lisbon, was the only one existing in
Portugal until the beginning of this century. For a provincial town it
has remarkable riches, and it's an enjoyable place to be, too - lively
when the students are in town, sleepy during the holidays. The best time
of all to be here is in May, when the students celebrate the end of the
academic year in the Queima das Fitas , tearing or burning their gowns
and faculty ribbons. This is when you're most likely to hear the Coimbra
fado , distinguished from the Lisbon version by its mournful pace and
complex lyrics.
The City
Old Coimbra sits on a hill on the right bank of the River Mondego, with
the university crowding its summit. The main buildings of the Old
University , dating from the sixteenth century, are set around a
courtyard dominated by a Baroque clocktower and a statue of João III
looking remarkably like Henry VIII. The chapel is covered with azulejos
- traditional glazed and painted tiles - and intricate decoration, but
takes second spot to the Library (daily 9.30am-12.30pm & 2-5.30pm;
¬1.25), a Baroque fantasy presented to the faculty by João V in the
early eighteenth century.
Below the university, a good first stop is the Museu Machado de Castro
(Tues-Sun 9.30am-12.30pm & 2-5.15pm; ¬1.25), just down from the
unprepossessing Sé Nova (New Cathedral). Named after an
eighteenth-century sculptor, the museum is housed in the former
archbishop's palace, which would be worth visiting in its own right even
if it were empty. As it is, it's positively stuffed with sculpture,
paintings, furniture and ceramics. The Sé Velha (Old Cathedral; daily
10am-noon & 2-7.30pm, closed Fri-Sun pm), halfway down the hill, is one
of the most important Romanesque buildings in Portugal, little altered
and seemingly unbowed by the years. Solid and square on the outside,
it's also stolid and simple within, the decoration confined to a few
giant conch shells and some unobtrusive azulejos . The Gothic tombs and
low-arched cloister (¬0.50) are equally restrained.
Restraint and simplicity certainly aren't the chief qualities of the
Igreja de Santa Cruz (Mon-Sat 9am-noon & 2-5.45pm, Sun 4-6pm; ¬1.75 for
cloister), at the bottom of the hill past the city gates. Although it
was founded before the Old Cathedral, nothing remains that has not been
substantially remodelled. In the early sixteenth century Coimbra was the
site of a major sculptural school; the new tombs for Portugal's first
kings, Afonso Henriques and Sancho I, and the elaborately carved pulpit,
are among its very finest works. The Manueline theme is at its clearest
in the airy arches of the Cloister of Silence, its walls decorated with
bas-relief scenes from the life of Christ.
It was in Santa Cruz that Dom Pedro had his court pay homage to the
corpse of Inês de Castro, which had lain in the now ruined Convento de
Santa Clara-a-Velha across the river, alongside the convent's founder,
Saint-Queen Isabel. The tombs have long since been moved away, Inês's to
Alcobaça and Isabel's to the Convento de Santa Clara-a-Nova (Tues-Sun
8.30am-6pm; ¬0.50 for cloister), higher up the hill. Two features make
the climb worthwhile: the silver tomb itself and the vast cloister
financed by João V, whose devotion to nuns went beyond the bounds of
spiritual comfort.
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