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History · Chapter III1290 – 1772

University, the city of colleges

1290where the University was, on a scale of time1537 →

The University was born in Lisbon, in 1290, and went back and forth between the two cities until it settled in Coimbra, in 1537 — in the king’s house. Around it, the city filled with colleges.

How to read the stamps
  • Measuredread today by instrument
  • Excavatedfound in excavation and published
  • Documentedwritten in an ancient source or a record
  • Hypothesisproposed by researchers, not proven
  • Diagrama drawing to explain, not to the scale of the find
BACK AND FORTH

Between Lisbon and Coimbra

The six dates of the opening chart, one by one: where it was born, the four moves and the last arrival.

  1. Lisbon1290

    Born in Lisbon

    On 1 March, King Dinis makes it known that he has ordered a studium generale in the city of Lisbon; in August, a papal bull confirms it, with Arts, Canon Law, Civil Law and Medicine.

    Documented[1]
  2. Coimbra1308

    First move to Coimbra

    The same king moves it to Coimbra and gives it a building of its own, next to the royal palace: the Estudos Velhos. In 1309 it receives privileges that have it govern itself in the Bologna manner — the students elect the rector.

    Documented[1]
  3. Lisbon1338

    Back to Lisbon

    Afonso IV takes it back to Lisbon.

    Documented[1]
  4. Coimbra1354

    Second move to Coimbra

    By December it is back in Coimbra, now in the lower part of the city. In 1370, King Fernando has larger schools built in the suburb.

    Documented[1]
  5. Lisbon1377

    A hundred and sixty years in Lisbon

    King Fernando takes it to Lisbon, where it stays for 160 years. Coimbra is not left without a school: Prince Pedro founds another there, which ends up reduced to the Arts and lasts in the Estudos Velhos until 1537.

    Documented[1]
  6. Coimbra1537

    For good

    João III brings the University to Coimbra, as part of a reform that had begun at Santa Cruz. Classes open on 2 May. It has never left since.

    Documented[1]
THE RUA DA SOFIA

A straight street

Cut through Santa Cruz land to be the street of learning. Laid out horizontally, with the colleges built along it between 1540 and 1550.

RUA DA SOFIA← Santa Cruz
11548Artes1550S. Boaventura231541Espírito Santo41541Carmo51543Graça61540S. Pedro dos Terceiros1546S. Tomás7
width between façades, every 5 m · line: median, 12.4 m
Plan · the street on its side, from Santa Cruz (left) northwardsMeasured[5]Documented[1]
455 mdead straight: along its whole length, it strays at most 2.6 m from a straight line.
12.4 mwide between façades, at the midpoint. The medieval streets of the Baixa, next to it, are between 2.2 and 3.9 m wide and stray between 11 and 18 m.
  • Rua da Sofia12.4 m
  • Rua Direita3.9 m
  • Rua Eduardo Coelho2.2 m
  • Rua Adelino Veiga3.8 m
  • Rua das Padeiras3.2 m
Measured[5]
  1. 1Colégio Real das Artes1548the Inquisition from 1565; today the Pátio da Inquisição
  2. 2Colégio de S. Boaventura1550
  3. 3Colégio do Espírito Santo1541
  4. 4Colégio do Carmo1541
  5. 5Colégio da Graça1543
  6. 6Colégio de S. Pedro dos Terceiros1540
  7. 7Colégio de S. Tomás1546Palácio da Justiça, the law courts
THE CITY OF COLLEGES

From the palace to the colleges, and back to the palace

The Sofia and the Alta in plan, with the measured relief and the wall from chapter II. The colleges in the buildings that occupy them today.

  1. 01

    First, next to the palace

    On its first two stays, the University had no more than one building, against the royal palace at the top of the hill — the Estudos Velhos — and, from 1354, schools in the Baixa.

    Exactly where either of them stood is not known today. What remained was the closeness to the palace, which would weigh two centuries later.

    Documented[1]Diagram
  2. 02

    Three houses for one school

    When the University arrives, in 1537, it does not fit in one place. Arts and Theology go to the monastery of Santa Cruz; Canon Law, Civil Law and Medicine to the houses of the rector, Garcia de Almeida, at Estrela.

    In October the king moves these faculties into the royal palace itself. In 1544 he brings everything there, except the Arts.

    Documented[1]
  3. 03

    A new street for the colleges

    On land belonging to Santa Cruz a new street is cut, straight, wide and long, a break with the medieval Baixa: the Rua da Sofia. It was meant to be the seat of learning.

    The move to the palace undid the plan, but the street filled with colleges of the religious orders and, in 1548, with the Colégio Real das Artes, whose masters were brought from Bordeaux.

    Documented[1]
  4. 04

    The Alta of the colleges

    With the University in the palace, the colleges climb to the Alta: the Jesuits’ Colégio de Jesus in 1547; then Trindade, S. Jerónimo, the new Colégio das Artes, S. Bento, the Colégio Novo… In the 16th century the network reaches some twenty.

    To build them, houses, streets and stretches of the wall were pulled down: the Jesuits got their licence to knock down wall and towers in 1547.

    Documented[1]Documented[3]
  5. 05

    The palace becomes the school’s

    In 1597 the University buys the palace from the king; the building keeps the honours of a royal residence. It adds the Porta Férrea between 1633 and 1634, the library between 1717 and 1728 and, right after, today’s tower.

    Documented[1]
  6. 06

    Pombal’s reform

    The 1772 reform puts the sciences at the centre, and with them come new buildings: the Press (1772), the Botanic Garden (1774), the Chemistry Laboratory (1775), cabinets and a hospital in the Colégio de Jesus, emptied by the expulsion of the Jesuits.

    The observatory was begun on the site of the castle, demolished for it in 1773. It was never finished.

    Documented[1]Documented[3]
  7. 07

    What UNESCO inscribed

    With the abolition of the religious orders in 1834, the colleges close and are put to other uses; some were demolished.

    In 2013, the Alta and the Rua da Sofia join the World Heritage List: two areas, one of 29.5 hectares on the hilltop, the other of 6.5 along the street.

    Documented[1]Measured[5]
Not on the plan
  • 1550 S. Paulo Apóstolo — demolished
  • 1561 Ordem de Cristo (Tomar) — demolished; the Penitentiary stands in its place
  • 1574 S. Pedro — next to the Paço, joined to it in 1855
  • 1615 Militares — demolished
  • 1631 Lóios — demolished
  • 1665 S. Boaventura II — demolished
Documented[1]
A PALACE TURNED SCHOOL

From the courtyard you can see the river

João III gave up the south wing of the palace and the courtyard was left open over the city. In section, measured, down to the Mondego. Above it all, the tower rises 34 m above the courtyard.

99 mthe Escolas courtyard19 mthe Mondegoeye level passes 1.2 m above everything in the way · 680 m to the water50 m
Section · from the courtyard to the river, towards the south-southwest (192°) · no vertical exaggerationMeasured[4]
  1. 1130

    Home of the first king

    Sesnando’s alcazaba becomes the main residence of Afonso Henriques.

    Documented[1]
  2. 1330s

    Afonso IV

    A great building campaign, of which many parts remain.

    Documented[1]
  3. 1513 – 1533

    King Manuel’s palace

    The palace, abandoned, is rebuilt: of the Manueline work, the north façade and the chapel doorway remain.

    Documented[1]
  4. João III

    A courtyard open to the river

    The south wing is given up and the old wall it rested on is pulled down. The courtyard is left open, a lookout over the river and the fields.

    Documented[1]
  5. October 1537

    The University moves in

    The king houses the faculties in his own home. In 1561 a clock tower is designed, by João de Ruão.

    Documented[1]
  6. 1597 – 1728

    The school’s house

    Bought in 1597, the palace gains the Porta Férrea (1633–1634), the library (1717–1728) and today’s tower, which replaces that of 1561.

    Documented[1]

The students chose the rector

The privileges of 1309 follow the Bologna model: the students elect the rectors and draw up their own statutes, which the king confirms in 1317. Two centuries later, the rector is a crown official.

Documented[1]

An invitation to Erasmus

Before the move, Erasmus of Rotterdam was even invited to come and teach in Coimbra — the first sign that this was where the University was coming.

Documented[1]

The Bordeaux mission

In Lent 1547 the masters André de Gouveia had recruited in Bordeaux for the Colégio das Artes arrive, among them the Scot George Buchanan. André dies in 1549; shortly afterwards, three of those masters, Buchanan included, are in prison.

Documented[1]

Aristotle, Coimbra style

Between 1592 and 1606, the Jesuits of the Colégio das Artes publish the commentaries on Aristotle of the Cursus Conimbricensis, which ran to more than a hundred editions. Francisco Suárez taught in Coimbra from 1597 to 1616.

Documented[1]

The Paço das Escolas can be visited.So can the Science Museum, in the Chemistry Laboratory, and the Botanic Garden.

Opening hours and tickets on the University website →
References
  1. Universidade de Coimbra (2012), Universidade de Coimbra — Alta e Sofia: processo de candidatura à Lista do Património Mundial, especially “Histórico e evolução” [2.b]. whc.unesco.org/uploads/nominations/1387.pdf
  2. ICOMOS (2013), evaluation of nomination no. 1387, University of Coimbra — Alta and Sofia. whc.unesco.org/archive/advisory_body_evaluation/1387.pdf
  3. J. de Alarcão (2008), Coimbra: a montagem do cenário urbano, Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra, pp. 193–267. doi.org/10.14195/978-989-26-0416-9
  4. Direção-Geral do Território, LiDAR digital terrain and surface models, 2 m (2024). cdd.dgterritorio.gov.pt
  5. Buildings, streets, water and the boundary of the inscribed property: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). www.openstreetmap.org/relation/14067606