Coimbra

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Coimbra
Flag of Coimbra
Municipal flag
Coat of arms of Coimbra
Municipal coat of arms
Location of Coimbra
Location  
 - Country Portugal  
 - Region Centro
 - Subregion Baixo Mondego
 - District or A.R. Coimbra
Mayor Carlos Encarnação
 - Party PSD
Area 319.4 km²
Population
 - Total 142,408
 - Density 445.8/km²
No. of parishes 31
Coordinates 41°15' N 8°27'W
Municipal holiday Holy Queen Isabel
July 4
Website: http://www.cm-coimbra.pt/
Coimbra near the Mondego river.
Coimbra near the Mondego river.

Coimbra (pron. IPA [ku'ĩbɾɐ]) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The municipality has a population of 142,408 inhabitants, and over 435,000 inhabitants live in the Greater Metropolitan Area of Coimbra made of 16 municipalities comprising a 3370 km² area. It is the district seat of Coimbra district, being located in Baixo Mondego subregion, which belongs to the larger Centro region from whom it is the capital. Like most university cities, there is also a large number of dislocated students from outside Coimbra residing in the city.

Coimbra is one of the most important urban centers of Portugal after the much larger Lisbon Metropolitan Area and Porto Metropolitan Area conurbations, and plays a role as the chief city of the central part of the country. The city, which was the capital of Portugal from 1139 to about 1260, has a large archeological site with extensive ruins dating from the time it was a Roman town called Aeminium. Coimbra developed into an important cultural centre, mainly because of the University of Coimbra, founded in 1290. The university is one of the oldest in Europe and due to its monumental buildings and history attracts tourists from around the world.

Contents

[edit] Location

The historic city of Coimbra is located in the central part of Portugal, 120 km south of Porto, 195 km north of Lisbon. One of Portugal's biggest crossroads, Coimbra is served by the A1, the main highway of Portugal. It is set by the Mondego River, about 40 km east of Figueira da Foz, a neighbour coastal city with several beaches, summer and seaport facilities on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.

[edit] Nationwide importance

The city of Coimbra has a population of about 150,000 inhabitants and a total of 435,000 inhabitants in its Greater Metropolitan Area (see Grande Área Metropolitana de Coimbra). Previously capital of the former Beira province, and today the Centro region capital, it is considered alongside Braga, the most important city of Portugal outside Lisbon and Porto Metropolitan Areas, and plays a role as the chief city of the central part of the country. With a dense urban grid the city of Coimbra is famous for its monuments, churches, libraries, numerous parks, gardens, nightlife, healthcare and shopping facilities, but above all for its University of Coimbra, one of the oldest universities in Europe.

[edit] History and landmarks

The city, located over a hill by the river Mondego, was called Aeminium in Roman times. During late Antiquity it became the seat of a Diocesis substituting the nearby city of Conímbriga, which had been captured and partially plundered by invading Germanic peoples in 465 and 468, adopting later the name of the destroyed city. After the Roman city of Civita Aeminium, between 586 and 640, the Visigoths altered the name of the town to Emínio. The Moors ocuppied Coimbra around the year 711, turning it into an important commercial link between the Christian North and Muslim South. The city was definitely reconquered by Ferdinand I of Leon in 1064.

Santa Cruz Monastery (left) with a manueline façade.
Santa Cruz Monastery (left) with a manueline façade.

After being reconquered by the Christians, Coimbra became the capital of a new County (County of Coimbra), governed by the Mozarab Sesnando (Sisnando Davides), later incorporated into the County of Portugal. In the mid-12th century, the first Portuguese King, Afonso Henriques, turned Coimbra into the capital of the new Kingdom, a condition the city would keep until the year 1255. Many important monuments of the city date from this early period, like the Old Cathedral, the Church of St. James (Igreja de Santiago) and the Santa Cruz Monastery, which was the most important Portuguese monastic institution at the time.

16th-century Palace of Sub-Ripas in the Alta of Coimbra.
16th-century Palace of Sub-Ripas in the Alta of Coimbra.

Already in the Middle Ages Coimbra was divided into an upper city (Cidade Alta or Almedina), where the aristocracy and the clergy lived, and the low city (Cidade Baixa) by the river where most commercial activities took place. The city was encircled by a fortified wall, of which some remnants are still visible like the Almedina Gate (Porta da Almedina). The most important work in gothic style in the city is the Old Santa Clara Convent (Convento de Santa Clara-a-Velha), founded in the left side of the river Mondego by Queen Elizabeth in the first half of the 14th century. The Monastery was located too close to the river, and frequent floods forced the nuns to abandon it in the 17th century, when the New Santa Clara Convent (Santa Clara-a-Nova) was built uphill. The Queen's magnificent gothic tomb was also transferred to the new convent. The ruins of the old convent have recently been unearthed and can be seen today in the left bank of the river.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, during the Age of Discovery, Coimbra was again one of the main artistic centres of Portugal thanks to both local and royal patronage. Coimbra bishops, religious orders and King Manuel I supported artists like Diogo Pires (father and son), Marcos Pires, João de Castilho, Diogo de Castilho and the Frenchmen, João de Ruão and Nicholas of Chanterene, among others, who left important manueline and renaissance works in the town. Date from this period the remodelling in manueline style of the Santa Cruz Monastery, including the tombs of Kings Afonso Henriques and Sancho I, the renaissance Manga Fountain, the altarpieces and triumphal portal of the Old Cathedral, among other works.

18th-century University Tower (Torre da Universidade).
18th-century University Tower (Torre da Universidade).

The University of Coimbra, founded in Lisbon in 1290 by King Dinis I, was definitely transferred to the premises of Coimbra Castle in 1537 by King John III. Since then, the city life has revolved around the state-run university, and for many decades, several colleges (colégios) created to provide an alternative to the official form of teaching and established by the religious orders in the city, which were later gradually discontinued through the times with the secularization of teaching in Portugal. Built in the 18th century, the Joanina Library (Biblioteca Joanina), a baroque library, is other notable landmark of the ancient university, and the University Tower (Torre da Universidade), a baroque construction, from the school of the Italian architect Ludovice, built between 1728 and 1733, is the city's «ex-libris».

The first half of the 19th century was a difficult period for Coimbra, invaded by French troops under the command of Andoche Junot and André Masséna. The city recovered in the second half of the century with infrastructure improvements like the telegraph, gas light, the railway system and a railway bridge over the Mondego river.

Apart from the monuments already mentioned, it is also worth a visit to the New Cathedral of Coimbra (17th century) and the Machado de Castro Museum, the second most important one in Portugal, housed in the former Palace of the Bishops. The city also houses the University of Coimbra General Library, Portuguese second biggest library, after the National Library in Lisbon, and the Botanical Garden of the University of Coimbra from the 18th century.

Coimbra is also known for the reduced child-scale buildings in the Portugal dos Pequenitos park. These buildings are scale copies of Portuguese architectural landmarks and were built in the 1950s and 1960s.

[edit] Education

Courtyard of the University of Coimbra.
Courtyard of the University of Coimbra.

Coimbra has been called A cidade dos estudantes (The city of the students) or Lusa-Atenas (Lusitan-Athens), mainly because it is the site of the oldest and one of the largest universities in Portugal - the University of Coimbra, a public university whose origins can be traced back to the 13th century. Nowadays it has students from 70 different nationalities; almost 10% of its students are foreigners, being Portugal's most international university.

Coimbra is also the place where the oldest and biggest university students' union of Portugal was founded - the Associação Académica de Coimbra (Academic Association of Coimbra), established in 1887.

Besides that, there are also some other schools and institutes of higher education in the city: the Instituto Politécnico de Coimbra, a public polytechnic institute; the Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Coimbra, a public nursing school; and some private higher education institutions such as the Instituto Superior Miguel Torga; the Instituto Superior Bissaya Barreto; the Escola Universitária Vasco da Gama and finally, the Escola Universitária das Artes de Coimbra, an art school.

A large number of higher education students from entire Portugal chose Coimbra's higher learning institutions to study due to the wide availability of degrees offered in different fields, the student-friendly environment of the city, and the prestige of many of its learning institutions allied to the ancient tradition of Coimbra as the historical capital of higher studies in Portugal.

The city has also a large number of public and private basic and secondary schools, among these some of the best-ranked in the country, like Escola Secundária Infanta D. Maria (public) and Colégio Rainha Santa Isabel (private), as well as several kindergartens and nurseries.

[edit] Economy

Visconde da Luz Street in the Baixa of Coimbra.
Visconde da Luz Street in the Baixa of Coimbra.

The wealth of the city rests mostly on its University of Coimbra with about 23,000 students - the city has a total of 35,000 higher education students considering the other higher education institutions based there - but also in shopping, technology and health sciences industry, administrative offices, financial services, law firms and specialized medical care. The city has many private clinics, medical offices and two large independent state hospital centres: H.U.C. - Hospitais da Universidade de Coimbra and C.H.C. - Centro Hospitalar de Coimbra.

Notable companies in the city area include Critical Software which has its global headquarters in the city, Cimpor's cement factory in Souselas (CIMPOR Souselas), the pan-European service facility of Olympus Corporation, the pharmaceuticals company Bluepharma, the iron foundry Fucoli-Somepal, and several ceramics, food manufacturing and wine industries. Handicraft industry is well represented by traditional tapestry and pottery manufacture, and the surroundings of the city have besides forestry, dynamic horticulture production, vineyards and livestock raising.

Coimbra has a fresh produce open-air market on every 7th and 23rd days of the month at Feira dos 7 e dos 23, and a large fresh produce market in downtown at Mercado D. Pedro V. The Baixa (downtown) of Coimbra has many coffeehouses and bakeries, and features several specialty shops selling all kind of products in typical old-fashioned architectural surroundings. Large commercial facilities with car park, include a medium-sized shopping center (CoimbraShopping); two larger shopping centers with hypermarket, restaurants, movie theaters and several shops with a selection of some of Portugal's and the world's most famous and stylish international brands (Centro Comercial Dolce Vita and Forum Coimbra); and two retail parks found on the fringes of the city, offering an alternative to the busy city centre (Retail Park Mondego in Taveiro, and Coimbra Retail Park in Eiras).

[edit] Culture

[edit] Coimbra fado

Cover from Guitarra Portuguesa by Carlos Paredes.
Cover from Guitarra Portuguesa by Carlos Paredes.

Fado de Coimbra (Coimbra Fado) is a highly stylized genre of fado born in the city of Coimbra. Guitar player Carlos Paredes and singer Zeca Afonso, are among its most renowned and historical figures.

Orfeon Académico de Coimbra, the oldest and most famous academic choir in Portugal, an autonomous organization of the students' union Associação Académica de Coimbra, established in 1880 by a law student, and the fado section of Associação Académica de Coimbra itself, are important organizations in Coimbra fado promotion and preservation.

According to tradition, to applaud fado in Lisbon you clap your hands, in Coimbra you cough as if clearing your throat.

[edit] Municipality holiday

Coimbra city holiday is the 4th of July. The Coimbra City Festival is in honour of the Queen Saint Elizabeth, wife of the King Dom Dinis and patriarch of the city. The religious festivities take place only in the even numbered years, but the city holiday's celebrations take place every year in July. Special attractions include the fireworks display during the nighttime march of the penitents. The devotion accorded to Queen Donna Isabel began soon after her death and in 1516 she was beatified for the Coimbra Diocese under Pope Leo X, then for the whole country by Pope Paul IV in 1556. The canonization process for Holy Queen Isabel was begun by Don Alfonso de Castelo Branco, in 1612. After verification that the corpse remained uncorrupted a crystal and silver urn was placed at the tomb for veneration by the faithful. The canonization ceremony took place in 1625 with Pope Urban VIII presiding and the local population celebrating the event for a week.

[edit] Student festivals

Coimbra's Queima das Fitas Parade. Image shows nearly-graduated medicine students.
Coimbra's Queima das Fitas Parade. Image shows nearly-graduated medicine students.

Coimbra is also known for its university students' festivals. Two are held every year. The first one, Latada or Festa das Latas (The Tin Can Parade), a homecoming parade, occurs in the beginning of scholar year, and is a welcome to the new university students (Caloiros). The Festa das Latas goes back to the 19th century when the Coimbra students felt the need to express their joy at finishing the school year in as loud a way as possible, using everything at their disposal that would make noise, namely tin cans. The highlight of this festival, which now takes place at the beginning of the academic year (November) is the special parade known as the Latada. After marching through the streets of the city the new students are baptized in the Mondego River thus entering into the Coimbra academic fraternity. The 2nd year's students are awarded their Grelos (a small ribbon). The Grelo is a small, woollen ribbon with the color(s) of the student's faculty that is attached to a student's briefcase. Previous to this, at the morning the students must have visited the Dom Pedro V market where they must get a turnip to sustain the Caloiros during the day's festivities. Besides the tin cans they have tied to their legs, the new students wear all kinds of costumes made up according to the creativity and imagination of their godmothers or godfathers who are older students. They also carry placards with ironic criticisms alluding to certain teachers, the educational system, national events and leaders.

The second one, Queima das Fitas (The Burning of the Ribbons), more important than the first, takes place at the end of the second semester (usually in the beginning of May) and it is one of the biggest student parties in all Europe. It lasts for 8 days, each for each University of Coimbra's Faculty: Letras (Letters), Direito (Law), Medicina (Medicine), Ciências e Tecnologia (Sciences and Technology), Farmácia (Pharmacy), Economia (Economics), Psicologia e Ciências da Educação (Psychology and Education Sciences) and Ciências do Desporto e Educação Física (Sports Sciences and Physical Education).

Although being University of Coimbra's festivals, other higher education students of Coimbra such as the polytechnic's students or private institution's students, are invited every year by the University of Coimbra students who manage and organise this events, to participate in the Tin Can Parade and also in the Burning of the Ribbons.

[edit] Leisure activities

[edit] Parks and gardens

Mata Nacional do Choupal.
Mata Nacional do Choupal.

The city has many attractive and pleasant green spaces such as parks, playgrounds, gardens and forests. The most famous parks and green areas in Coimbra include the Botanical Garden of the University of Coimbra, the Mata Nacional do Choupal, the Mata Nacional de Vale de Canas, Jardim da Sereia, Penedo da Saudade, Parque Manuel Braga, Parque Verde do Mondego and Choupalinho. Quinta das Lágrimas, a private area with an hotel and golf course, is also a famous historical place with gardens and forest. Also noteworthy is the Paul de Arzila, a natural reserve occupying an area in Coimbra municipality (in Arzila), and in the neighbouring municipalities of Condeixa-a-Nova and Montemor-o-Velho.

[edit] Sport

Coimbra City Stadium.
Coimbra City Stadium.

Coimbra is home to Associação Académica de Coimbra - O.A.F. (known simply as Académica), a professional football autonomous organism of the University of Coimbra students' union Associação Académica de Coimbra, founded in 1872 and having its current statute of autonomous football organization since the 1980s. Académica football team plays in the BWINLIGA at the Estádio Cidade de Coimbra. Clube de Futebol União de Coimbra, another sports club with tradition in the city, owner of a football team which plays in the Portuguese Second Division, is other important club of Coimbra.

Coimbra also has one of the largest multisports clubs in Portugal: the University of Coimbra's students' union Associação Académica de Coimbra, includes sections dedicated to a wide array of sports such as rugby, volleyball (Associação Académica de Coimbra - Secção de Voleibol), handball, rink hockey, basketball, baseball, tennis, swimming, rowing, among many others.

The Estádio Cidade de Coimbra (30,000 seats), which was a site of 2004 European Football Championship, the Estádio Municipal Sérgio Conceição, and the Estádio Universitário de Coimbra, an extensive sports complex of the university on Mondego's left bank, are the main athletics and sports venues in Coimbra. The Pavilhão Jorge Anjinho sports arena (headquarters of Associação Académica de Coimbra - O.A.F.), Pavilhão dos Olivais, and Pavilhão do C.F. União de Coimbra, are other places where some of the most important indoor sports clashes involving teams of Coimbra are played.

[edit] Transportation

Ponte do Açude, one of the busiest bridges over Mondego river.
Ponte do Açude, one of the busiest bridges over Mondego river.
Coimbra-A railway station.
Coimbra-A railway station.

The two banks of Mondego river at Coimbra, are linked by three main bridges: the Ponte do Açude; the Ponte de Santa Clara (Santa Clara bridge), which is the oldest, and the Ponte Rainha Santa also known as Ponte Europa, which is the newest one, finished in 2004.

The city is internally connected by an extensive bus network, the SMTUC (Serviços Municipalizados de Transportes Urbanos de Coimbra, Coimbra Municipality Urban Transport Services). In the past, the city also had a tram network (some are now parked inside a transportation museum). Taxicabs are also available, and are recognizable as cream or black and green (black car with green rooftop) taxis. The city is a hub for interregional bus services for all the country and abroad.

Coimbra has several rail stations. The principal station Coimbra-B is on the main line between Porto and Lisbon. From this, a small spur runs to Coimbra-A, the main station in the city centre. A small regional rail line also runs from Coimbra Parque at the south edge of the city centre.

A regional airfield is located in Cernache (Aeródromo Municipal Bissaya Barreto), 7.5 km SW of the city downtown. With a 920 metre runway and Flight Information Service until the sunset, this regional airport has all the fundamental facilities for private flights.

[edit] Accommodation

There is a wide variety of accommodation available, ranging from the camping-park or one of the many inexpensive hostels to the charming downtown hotels and international chain hotels.

[edit] Climate

Temperatures in Coimbra range from 7.2 ºC (45 ºF) to 27.95 ºC (82 ºF). Rainfall in Coimbra varies from 18.0 mm/month (0.71 in./month) to 486.0 mm/month (19.1 in./month).

[edit] Civil parishes

The municipality (concelho) of Coimbra is divided into 31 civil parishes (freguesias):

  • Almalaguês
  • Almedina
  • Ameal
  • Antanhol
  • Antuzede
  • Arzila
  • Assafarge
  • Botão
  • Brasfemes
  • Castelo Viegas
  • Ceira
  • Cernache
  • Eiras
  • Lamarosa
  • Ribeira de Frades
  • São Bartolomeu
  • São João do Campo
  • São Martinho da Árvore
  • São Martinho do Bispo
  • São Paulo de Frades
  • São Silvestre
  • Sé Nova
  • Souselas
  • Santa Clara
  • Santa Cruz
  • Santo António dos Olivais
  • Taveiro
  • Torre de Vilela
  • Torres do Mondego
  • Trouxemil
  • Vil de Matos

[edit] Famous inhabitants

[edit] Gallery

A view of Coimbra and Mondego river.

A view of the old university built at the top of one of Coimbra's many hills.

A view over "Calhabé" area, in Coimbra.

Partial view of Coimbra.

Botanical Garden of the University of Coimbra.

Park of Mondego.

New Cathedral of Coimbra, former Jesuit church (17th century).

Ruins of Santa Clara-a-Velha Convent (14th century).

Portugal dos Pequenitos, a thematic park intended for children.

John Paul II Square and Coimbra Aqueduct.

Renaissance-style Manga Fountain (mid-16th century).

Europa bridge over Mondego river

[edit] Sister cities

Source: Câmara Municipal de Coimbra (Coimbra City Hall) official website [1]

[edit] See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

[edit] External links


 
Municipalities of the District of Coimbra		 Flag of Portugal
Arganil | Cantanhede | Coimbra | Condeixa-a-Nova | Figueira da Foz | Góis | Lousã | Mira | Miranda do Corvo
Montemor-o-Velho | Oliveira do Hospital | Pampilhosa da Serra | Penacova | Penela | Soure | Tábua | Vila Nova de Poiares
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