t A boat on the Mondego river passing the town of Coimbra
g The Beiras g Contents
t A boat on the Mondego river passing the town of Coimbra
Experience The Beiras
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Founded by the canons of St Augustine in 1131, the church and monastery of Santa Cruz are rich in examples of the city’s early-16th-century school of sculpture. Carvings by Nicolau Chanterène and Jean de Rouen adorn the church’s Portal da Majestade, designed by Diogo de Castilho in 1523. The chapterhouse by Diogo Boitac is Manueline in style, as are the Claustro do Silêncio (which has an admission fee) and the choir stalls, carved in 1518 with a frieze about exploration. Portugal’s first two kings, Afonso Henriques and Sancho I, were reinterred here in 1520.
The fortress-style Old Cathedral is widely regarded as the finest Romanesque building in Portugal, a celebration in stone of the triumph over the Moors in 1064. Sancho I was crowned here in 1185, soon after the cathedral was completed.
Inside, square piers lead the eye up the nave to the flamboyant retable over the altar. The work of Flemish woodcarvers in about 1502, this depicts the birth of Christ, the Assumption and many saints. A 16th-century altarpiece in the south transept is also highly decorated, as is the Manueline font, thought to be by Diogo Pires the Younger. In contrast is the quiet restraint of the cloister, built in 1218.
The tomb of the city’s first Christian governor, Sisinando (a Muslim convert who died in 1091), lies in the chapterhouse.
Experience The Beiras
While Lisbon’s music is melancholy and sombre, Coimbra’s is boisterous and romantic. Sung by male students or alumni of Coimbra’s university, fado in this city ranges from serenades to drinking songs. Remember to cough rather than clap the singers.
t Admiring a sculpture in the Museu Nacional Machado de Castro
The elegant 16th-century loggias of the former bishop’s palace are the setting for a display of some of Portugal’s finest sculpture. The museum is named after master sculptor Joaquim Machado de Castro (1731–1822).
Among the medieval pieces on display here is an endearing stone knight holding a mace dating from the 14th century. Also in the collection, along with furnishings and vestments, are paintings from the 12th to 20th centuries, including the Assumption of the Virgin by the Master of Sardoal. Look for Queen Leonor’s coat of arms, which she had painted into the work.
An intriguing feature of the museum is the Criptoportico de Aeminium, a maze of underground passages holding a collection of Roman sculpture and stelae and Visigothic artifacts.
Nova, or new, is a relative term, as this church was founded by the Jesuits in 1598. Located a short walk from the university, their adjacent Colégio das Onze Mil Virgens is today part of the sciences faculty. The Jesuit Order was banned by the Marquês de Pombal in 1759 but their church became the episcopal seat in 1772. Jesuit saints still look out from the façade.
The interior, more spacious than the Sé Velha, is barrel-vaulted, with a dome over the crossing. To the left of the entrance is a Manueline-style octagonal font brought, with the choir stalls, from the Sé Velha. The paintings above the stalls are copies of Italian masters. The altarpiece in the 17th-century chancel, featuring more Jesuit saints, is flanked by a pair of 18th-century organs.
t A 17th-century gilt-and- wood sculpture of a saint on the Sé Nova’s altarpiece
t Paths leading up to an ornate stone fountain in the Jardim Botânico
These, Portugal’s largest botanical gardens, were created in 1772 when the reforming Marquês de Pombal introduced the study of natural history at the University of Coimbra. The university is still a centre for the study of flora.
The entrance, near the 16th-century aqueduct of São Sebastião, leads into 20 ha (50 acres) devoted to a remarkable collection of some 1,200 plants, including many rare and exotic species. The gardens are used for research, but are laid out as pleasure gardens, with greenhouses and a wild area overlooking the Mondego river.
The vast “new” convent of the Poor Clares was built between 1649 and 1677 to house the nuns from Santa Clara-a-Velha on drier land uphill. The building was designed by a mathematics professor, João Turriano, and although intended as a convent, now serves in part as a barracks for the army.
In the richly Baroque church, pride of place is given to the silver tomb of Santa Isabel, installed in 1696 and paid for by the people of Coimbra. The saint’s original tomb, a single stone, lies in the lower choir and polychrome wooden panels in the aisles tell the story of her life.
The convent’s large cloister, built by the Hungarian Carlos Mardel, was contributed in 1733 by João V, a generous benefactor who was well-known for his charity to nuns.
t Exploring miniature regional houses at Portugal dos Pequenitos
At this world in miniature, you can explore scaled-down versions of Portugal’s finest national buildings, whole villages of typical regional architecture, and pagodas and temples representing the far-flung reaches of the former Portuguese empire. Parts of Africa, from Angola to Mozambique, Brazil, Macau, India and East Timor, in Southeast Asia, are all represented here among their native vegetation.
The park also includes a reconstruction of Coimbra itself, complete with its famed university, but the real highlight is a magnificent replica of the Convento de Cristo in Tomar.
Founded in the late 13th century, the first monastery on this site was dissolved in 1311. In 1314, Santa Isabel, the widow of King Dinis, who was admired for her charity, had the convent of Santa Clara rebuilt because she had a palace nearby. She died in 1336 in Estremoz but was buried here in an elaborate tomb, attesting to her affinity with the monastery. Inês de Castro was also laid to rest here 20 years later, but was re-entombed at Alcobaça.
Almost from the day it was built, Santa Clara suffered from flooding and it was finally abandoned in 1677. In 1696, Santa Isabel’s remains were moved to the Convent of Santa Clara-a-Nova, which sits on higher ground.
The original Gothic church, in silted ruins since the late 17th century, has at last been restored. Beneath the mud and water, the monastery was preserved in excellent condition and the site gives a fascinating insight into the everyday lives of the monastic community who once lived here.
Insider Tip
The Mondego river offers some of the country’s best opportunities for kayaking. Follow the 18-km- (11-mile-) long stetch from Penacova to Coimbra, which passes through beautiful scenery. The many river beaches en route make for pleasant stopping-off points.