Arch and Almedina Tower

Built on the Almedina Arch, the Tower had the duty watch and defend the main access door to the interior of the wall. During the Arab occupation of the city, the walls stretched over two kilometers and are a powerful defensive system in which included the Tower and the Arch of Almedina, which remains the main entrance to the uptown. In the twelfth century, Coimbra capital becomes a new Kingdom and is at the top of the hill (now Largo D. Diniz) which stood the castle keep of the castle. It was there that was in the Puerta del Sol one of the most important gateways to the city. The wall then followed the direction of the Almedina Tower, which in the fourteenth and fifteenth serves as House Hearing of the House. But in the name are the clearest recollections of Arab presence in Coimbra. During the Arab occupation of the city, the walls stretched over about two kilometers and are a powerful defensive system in which they were part of the Tower and the Arch of Almedina, which remains the main entrance to the Upper part of the City .

The Barbican, currently features seventeenth-century, are still visible grubbing two horseshoe arches of the old double portal of the Muslim City. The logic of winners imposed new aesthetic codes: a sculpture of the Virgin and João de Ruão boy prevails today in the Porta da Barbacã (Barbican Gate).

During the 12th century, Afonso Henriques administered an area of fertile lands with river access and protected by a fortified city, whose population exceeded 6000 inhabitants, including magnates, knights and high clergy. The young Infante encouraged the construction of his seat, funding the Santa Cruz Monastery (the most important Portuguesemonastic institution at the time, founded in 1131 by Theotonius), promoted the construction of the Old Cathedral, reconstructed the original Roman bridge in 1132, recuperated fountains, kilns, roads and stone pavements, as well as renovating the walls of the old city. In order to confirm and reinforce the power of the concelho (municipality) he conceded a formal foral (charter) in 1179.

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 merchant, artisan and labour centres in the lower city, outside the Wall (Arrabalde or Cidade Baixa) by the Mondego River, in addition to the old and new Jewish quarters. The city was encircled by a fortified wall, of which some remnants are still visible like the Almedina Gate (Porta da Almedina). Meanwhile, on the periphery, the municipality began to grow in various agglomerations, notably around the monasteries and convents that developed in Celas, Santa Clara, Santo António dos Olivais. The most important work in Gothic style in the city is the Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Velha, founded on the left side of the river Mondego by Queen Elizabeth of Portugal in the first half of the 14th century. It stood too close to the river, and frequent floods forced the nuns to abandon it in the 17th century, when the Monastery of 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 were excavated in the 2000s, and can be seen today in the left bank of the river.

A Quinta das Lágrimas was the scene of forbidden love of Pedro and Dona Inês de Castro, a Galician noblewoman, lady accompanied his wife Dona Constance. According to legend, it was at Quinta das Lágrimas that Dona Inês cried for the last time, while being pierced by the daggers. The tears then shed have given rise to the Fonte da Lágrimas – Fountain of Tears.

The Christian Reconquista forced Muslim forces to abandon the region temporarily. Successively the Moors retook the castle in 987–1064 and again in 1116, capturing two castles constructed to protect the territory: in Miranda da Beira (where the garrison was slaughtered) and in Santa Eulália (where the governor rendered his forces rather than facing a similar massacre).

During the Visigothic era (around the 8th century), the County of Coimbra was instituted by King Wittiza; a sub-county of his dominion, it was established as a fief for his son Prince Ardabast (or Sisebuto), with its seat in Emínio (the Visigothic name for Coimbra), which persisted until the Muslim invasion from the south.