About Coimbra
Aeminium was the ancient name of the city of Coimbra, in Portugal. The Romans founded the civitas of Aeminium in this place at the time of Augustus, which came under the protection of nearby Conimbriga situated some 15 km away to the south. Cryptoporticus of the ancient forum of Aeminium, under the Machado de Castro Museum. The remains of this distant past, the Cryptoporticus, can be visited on the […]
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 […]
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. Coimbrabishops, 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, […]
Coimbra’s Queima das Fitas (Burning of the Ribbons), the oldest and most famous in the country, is organized by a students’ commission formed by members of the students’ union of the University of Coimbra, the Associação Académica de Coimbra. Celebrating the end of graduation courses, symbolized by the ritual burning of the ribbons representing each faculty, it takes […]
The University of Coimbra (UC; Portuguese: Universidade de Coimbra) is a Portuguese public university in Coimbra. Established in 1290 in Lisbon, it went through a number of relocations until it was moved permanently to its current city in 1537, being one of the oldest universities in continuous operation in the world, the oldest university of Portugal, and one of its largest higher education and research institutions. It is organized into eight […]
The reconquest of the territory was attained in 1064 by King Ferdinand I of León and Castile, who appointed Dom Sisnando Davides to reorganize the economy and administer the lands encircling the city. The County of Portucale and the County of Coimbra were later integrated into one dominion under the stewardship of Henry of Burgandy byAlfonso VI of León and Castile in 1096, when Henry married […]
Coimbra is romantic the king’s forbidden love of Pedro and Inês de Castro is one of its episodes more marcantes. 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 […]
The first Muslim campaigns that occupied the Iberian peninsula occurred between 711 and 715, with Coimbra capitulating to Musa bin Nusair in 714. Although it was not a large settlement, Qulumriyah (Arabic: قُلُمْرِيَة), in the context of Al-Andalus, was the largest agglomerated centre along the northern Tagus valley, and its principal city boasted a walled enclosure of 10 hectares, supporting between […]
The city, located on a hill by the Mondego River, was called Aeminium in Roman times. It fell under the influence, administratively, of the larger Roman villa of Conímbriga (in Condeixa-a-Nova), until the latter was sacked by the Sueves and Visigoths between 569 and 589 and abandoned. It became the seat of a diocesis, replacing Conímbriga. Although Conimbriga had been administratively important, Aeminium affirmed its position by being […]
