PORTUGAL: COIMBRA

 June 27, 2022

From Batalha we drove about an hour north-northeast to the university city of Coimbra, where we had a private tour scheduled. We had about an hour before we were supposed to meet our guide and were starving, so we found a parking place within walking distance of our meet-up point and conveniently located near the Café Santa Cruz. We lucked out because this café has been open since 1923 (although the building itself dates back to 1530) and is a Coimbra landmark. 

Photo from here

We arrived at lunchtime and the place was packed. They had a buffet-style set-up, and they couldn't keep the dishes stocked, so the line was moving pretty slowly. We paid 18€ for both of us, and that included drinks, and when we finally got through the line, we discovered that the food was quite good. The tables were full of what looked like university professors and students, and it was fun to be in that atmosphere.

Photo from here

Just outside and perpendicular to the restaurant was a wonderful "trash art" mural of a baby owl by the Portuguese artist Bordalo II. The left side is more or less traditional, its claws digging into an old wall, and the right sight is much more futuristic.

The Portuguese people love street art, and there is always something to look at. Is that Eve on the left with the serpent, the skull representing death being brought into the world? That's my guess. I'm not sure about the guy on the right holding the big key and the angry boy with the book. Any ideas?

Established in 1290 in Lisbon but then moved to Coimbra in 1537, the University of Coimbra is the oldest university in Portugal and among the oldest universities in continuous operation in the world. Not surprisingly, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 2021 there were over 25,000 students, with over half of those being master's and doctorate students.

We had arranged for a private guide, Pedro Réquio, to give us a tour of the campus. Pedro is a student at the University working towards a PhD in history. Both his English and his knowledge of the university's past and present were excellent, and we highly recommend him if you are traveling to Coimbra.

We began our tour by greeting King João/John III, the king responsible for moving the university to Coimbra.

King John III and King Henry VIII of England were contemporaries, their reigns overlapping for 26 years. Doesn't John III look like Henry VIII?

The main square here is known as the "Courtyard of the Old Royal Palace turned University." Unfortunately, the prettier part of the palace was undergoing extensive renovations.

Once we were inside, however, there were plenty of beautiful historical features.

The first room we entered was the Hall of Arms, which contains the weapons of the Royal Academic Guard.

Don't mess with the Royal Guard!

The Great Hall of Acts was designed to be a throne room, and portraits of the Portuguese monarchs  are hung on the upper level. This room, our guide Pedro told us, is where he will eventually defend his doctoral thesis. (As if the act isn't scary enough, he must do it under the critical gaze of all the kings!)

The gold and silver domed ceiling is made of wood.

I believe this is a portrait of Portugal's last king, Manuel II, who reigned from 1908 to 1910 when he was between the ages of 18 and 20. He became king when his father and older brother were assassinated--not a particularly good way to come to power. The monarchy was ended in a revolution in 1910, and King Manuel lived out his days in exile in England.

Until the 18th century, the Private Exam Room is where students would take oral exams in secret in the night. Why? I have no idea. The men staring down at the examinees and looking for cheaters are the Jesuit priests who ran the place.

 

Our next stop was St. Michael's Chapel, a small but breathtaking church built in the late 15th and early 16th centuries and dedicated to the Archangel Michael. I haven't been in many chapels (if any) that are such a riot of gaudy, swirling color. The main altar, built in 1604, looks very Baroque/Rococo. The gold and blue-green organ has 2000 pipes and trumpet-blowing angels.

I love the organ pipes.

Pedro told us that only current and past students of Coimbra University are allowed to be married in this chapel.

There's that pyramid-shaped design in the altar that we alternately called the "Stairway to Heaven" and "Wedding Cake Jesus" (left).  ANfd how about those leather-padded benches (right)? Not bad!

I think this is a choir loft (below left). Azulejo tiles cover the lower walls (right).

Back outside, we had a good view of the Mondego River, which is the longest river that is entirely within Portugal.

Coimbra University has something that I haven't ever seen at another university, at least that I can remember--an academic prison.

Late for class? Dog ate your homework? Sass the teacher? Throw a spitwad? Boom! Into one of three small cells you go, at least for the night. You would be let out to attend class.

Above the prison cells is a basic library.

Above THAT is the much more exciting part of the library--the Nobel Floor of the Joanina Library. It is the most spectacular, jaw-dropping room on campus. Think of Baroque on steroids. You have to reserve a time slot to go in, and if you miss it, too bad for you.

And too bad that photos aren't allowed inside.

But thank goodness for the internet.

Thank you, Wikipedia

Photo from here

Photo from here

The three-floor Joanina Library (named after its founder King João/John V) was built between 1717 and 1728 and received its first of what would eventually be 200,000 volumes in 1750. The exterior walls are seven feet thick, and the temperature hovers between 65-68𝆩 F. The books are protected from insects by a colony of bats living in the library that come out at night to feast on any insects that dare to appear. Leather sheets are placed on horizontal surfaces by workers at the end of each day, and each morning the library is thoroughly cleaned of any bat guano. The only other library in the world with a similar bat insect patrol is in the Mafra palace library, which we had seen a few days before.

It is hard to imagine attending a university as old and celebrated as the one at Coimbra, where students don Harry Potter-style black capes for their classes. This is the Harvard or Oxford of Portugal, a place of intellectual power but also of longstanding traditions.

It was the end of our guided tour by Pedro, but he walked with us to the Old Cathedral (Sé Velha de Coimbra in Portuguese), a much older structure than the university. This Romanesque church was built in the mid-12th century--350 years before Columbus set sail for the New World! The second king of Portugal was crowned here in 1185.

There were several giant mounted shells like the ones below. Signage noted that they are 2,000 years old and were given to the Old Cathedral in the early 20th century by the Governor of East Timor, a southeast Asian island that was once a Portuguese colony. The shells also mark the passage of the Santiago Camino through the cathedral.

That's San Sebastian on the left, painted in the 17th century and hanging above the tomb of a 14th century bishop. On the right is "Holy" Queen Isabel, the patron saint of Coimbra, who was canonized in 1625. Below her is a 13th century bishop.

The baptismal font looks like it is still in use today.

Detail of the carving on one of the sides:

The Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, added in 1566, has sculptures of Jesus flanked by his apostles on the upper level. 

A more ornate retable carved between 1498 and 1502 by Flemish artists is behind the main altar.

The Chapel of St. Pedro/Peter has an altarpiece made in the 16th century and is the tomb of Bishop D. Jorge de Almeida (bishop between 1483-1543), one of the first chief inquisitors in Portugal.

Below the carving of Christ carrying his cross is one of St. Peter being crucified upside-down.

This church feels very old, and as far as I can tell, there hasn't been a lot of effort to modernize or restore, which makes it even more wonderful.

Oh, the tiles!

We walked back to our car, happy to discover this American contribution to Portuguese culture: Sponge Bob Square Pants.

On our way out of town we admired Coimbra's one-km-long aqueduct. Used to supply water to the upper part of the city, it dates to 1570 and is officially named after St. Sebastian.

Next up: Aveiro