COIMBRA

1. 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. 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.
		The Modego river inside the Coimbra

2. 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 occupied Coimbra around the year 711, turning it into an important commercial link between the Christian North and Muslim South. The city was definitely re-conquered by Ferdinand I of Leon in 1064. 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.
		A tour to the city of Coimbra

3. University of Coimbra

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. 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 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.
		Surroundings of city of Coimbra

4. Education

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. 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.