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The city, located over a hill by the Mondego River, was called Aeminium in Roman times. 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 conquered by Ferdinand I of León in 1064.

Although it served as the nation's capital during the High Middle Ages, it is better known for its university, the University of Coimbra, which is one of the oldest in Europe and the oldest academic institution in the Portuguese-speaking world. The city of Coimbra is one of the most important urban centres in Portugal (after the much larger cities of Lisbon and Porto, and the growing Minho Metropolitan area, centered around Braga), playing a central role in the northern-central part of the country.

Aqueduto de São Sebastião, built 1568

Coimbra City Stadium

After being conquered 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. Many important monuments of the city date from this early period, like the Old Cathedral, the Church of St. James (Igreja de Santiago) and the Santa Cruz Monastery, which was the most important Portuguese monastic institution at the time.

Afonso I (1109 – 1185), more commonly known as Afonso Henriques nicknamed "the Conqueror"

Camara Municipal (City hall) Rua Corpo de Deus Afonso Henriques

Coimbra - Parque Verde

Railway station

Estação de Caminhos de Ferro Coimbra

As early as the Middle Ages, Coimbra was divided into an upper city (Cidade Alta or Almedina), where the aristocracy and the clergy lived, and the low city (Cidade Baixa) by the Mondego River, where most commercial activities took place.

Cidade Alta or Almedina (upper city)Porta de Almedina

The city was

encircled by a

fortified wall, of which some

remnants are still

visible like the

Almedina Gate

(Porta da Almedina)

The Tricana of Coimbra by Celestino Alves André

Celestino Alves André and his Tricana of Coimbra The Tricana of Coimbra by Celestino Alves André

The Tricana of Coimbra literally means "wife of Coimbra". She is an important symbol in the city. In the past women like her would bring water or other goods, like eggs or bread, in her earthen ware jar from the lower city to the upper city. She provided an essential service to its citizens. The statue is placed in a spot where a typical wife of the city could rest before continuing her journey up the steep streets (under the Almedina Arc and up).

It seems that those tricanas of Coimbra became more famous in other regions of Portugal because of the attraction between them and the young students of the University of Coimbra. The Tricanas were the inspiration for many poets in Coimbra

Casa de Sub Ripas

Centro de Coimbra

Cafe Santa Cruz

Cafe Santa Cruz

Cafe Santa Cruz

Cafe Santa Cruz

The opening of the luxurious Santa Cruz Café on 8 May 1923 made headlines in Coimbra’s newspapers. The date was chosen in honour of the café’s location in Praça 8 de Maio (8 May Plaza). The building dates back to 1530 and was originally built as a parish church. Since then it has undergone many transformations and has been a hardware store, police station and fire station. Today the Santa Cruz Café retains its unique and traditional atmosphere making it the perfect place to enjoy a Fado show, Portugal’s famous traditional music. You will enjoy VIP seats and a delicious traditional sweet treat to sample as you enjoy the show. Afterwards you will be taken on an exclusive guided tour of this historic and fascinating building.

Cafe Santa Cruz

Cafe Santa Cruz

Cafe Santa Cruz

Praça do Comércio

Praça do Comércio

Igreja de São Tiago

King Afonso I

Praca Vellha (Old Place) and Igreja de SaoTiago (Santiago, Iacobus)

Azulejos: Igreja de SaoTiago (Santiago, Iacobus)

Praça do Comércio

The two banks of Mondego river at Coimbra, are linked by three main bridges: the Ponte do Açude; the Ponte de Santa Clara (Santa Clara bridge), which is the oldest, and the Ponte Rainha Santa also known as Ponte Europa, finished in 2004. The Ponte Pedonal de Pedro e Inês is the ultimate bridge being constructed and is the only footbridge in the city.

Ponte de Santa Clara (Santa Clara bridge) the oldest

Ponte do Açude

Ponte Rainha Santa Isabel, also known as Ponte Europa, finished in 2004

Pedro e Inês is the ultimate bridge being constructed and is the only footbridge in the city.

Ponte Pedonal de Pedro e Inês

Ponte de Santa Clara (Santa Clara bridge)

Ponte Rainha Santa Isabel, also known as Ponte Europa, finished in 2004

Coimbra is better known for its university, the University of Coimbra

Ponte Pedro e Inês, named in honour of the medieval lovers

Designed by the engineers Cecil Balmond and Adão da Fonseca, and opened in November 2006, the bridge, part of the Polis Programme, was built to connect the right and left banks of the Mondego. 275 metres long and 4 metres wide, it has a ‘square’ in the middle, 8 metres wide. The walkway is of wood, and the side railings support yellow, blue, green and pink glass panels. The bridge is already an architectural icon: specialists have seen it as “revolutionary but elegant”, “a piece of engineering audacity”.

The Ponte Rainha Santa Isabel also known as Ponte Europa, finished in 2004

The Rainha Santa Isabel Bridge, over Mondego River

The Rainha Santa Isabel Bridge, over Mondego River

The Rainha Santa Isabel Bridge, over Mondego River

The Rainha Santa Isabel Bridge, over Mondego River

Quinta das Lagrimas

Quinta das Lágrimas was the

stage for the legend of Prince

Pedro and Inês de Castro. The facts were passed in

Coimbra over 650 years ago. Pedro was the heir to the throne occupied by

his father, King Dom Afonso IV.

Inês was a gallician lady and daughter of Pedro

Fernandez de Castro

Quinta das Lágrimas

The wife of Pedro, Constance of Castile, died in 1345. Afonso IV tried several times to arrange for his son to be remarried, but Pedro refused to take a wife other than Inês, who was not deemed eligible to be queen. Peter's legitimate son, future King Ferdinand I of Portugal, was a frail child, whereas Peter and Inês's illegitimate children were thriving; this created even more discomfort among the Portuguese nobles, who feared the increasing Castilian influence over Peter. Afonso IV ordered that Inês de Castro should be put to death in Pedro’s absence. Deeply hurt by his father’s verdict, Pedro rebelled and his troops swept the country to the point of besieging Oporto. A few months later father and son signed a peace where Pedro declared that he forgave Inês’ murderers

As soon as Pedro became king and in spite of his promises of forgiveness, he captured the assassins of Inês, who had fled to Castile to avoid his fury. One of them managed to escape but the other two were captured, tortured and executed. Dom Pedro had their hearts ripped out, one from the back and the other from the chest. In 1360 the king announced that he had married Inês secretly, and he then ordered their graves to be built in the Monastery of Alcobaça, where he would also be buried. Legend has it that he had Inês's body exhumed from her grave and forced the entire court to swear allegiance to their new queen by kissing the corpse's hand.

During the fourteenth century, the woods around Quinta das Lágrimas were hunting grounds of the royal family, that was by that time living in Coimbra. This was the place where Pedro and Inês used to meet, always secretely, so that nothing and no one would disturb their love. Inês, who was extremely beautiful, lived in the Convent of Santa-Clara-a-Velha, about 500 metres from the Quinta.There is at Quinta das Lágrimas a brook called “dos amores” (of love) which ends at the Convent. This stream would carry the love letters from Pedro to Inês. According to the legend, Pedro placed his letters in small wooden boats that transported them by the stream to the hands of Inês

When Pedro took her body to the monument in Alcobaça, he ordered a burial march where the entire nobility had to participate. Once in Alcobaça, Inês is supposed to have been crowned (Camões said that “she was made Queen after death”) and the nobles were forced to kiss her hand.

Inês was murdered by Afonso IV’s three men. The story tells that she was “quietly resting” when the three men attacked her and stabbed her to death. Her tears created the “Fonte das Lágrimas” (Fountain of Tears), where stains of her blood remain forever engraved on the rock.

The story of Pedro and Inês has been told over and over again throughout the centuries by the most brilliant writers in the world. Camões dedicated a great part of the “Lusíadas” to the legend of Inês de Castro but other names, Portuguese as well as foreign, left in their works testimony of this episode of Portuguese History. Among them we can quote Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Ezra Pound, Stendhal, Agustina Bessa-Luis and Henri de Montherlant, to mention only a few. Over the years, the hotel has been acquiring a number of works of art inspired in Pedro and Ines and created by some of Portugal’s leading artists. The most remarkable include the statue of Ines by João Cutileiro, the paintings by Luís Pinto-Coelho and a large sculpture by Joana Vasconcelos.

The origin of the estate is uncertain. It is known that it was a hunting ground for the Portuguese royal family and that it later belonged to the University of Coimbra and afterwards to a religious order. It was acquired by the Osório Cabral de Castro family in 1730, by whose order the palace was built. In 1879 a large part of the palace was lost during a fire. It was rebuilt in the late nineteenth century by Miguel Osório Cabral de Castro, in a style different from that of the original.

Tomb of Ines de Castro in Alcobaça

Inês's murder in the monastery of Santa ClaraQuinta das Lágrimas

Coimbra Homage to Inês de Castro

Text And pictures: InternetCopyrights of the photos belong to each photographer

Presentation: Sanda Foişoreanuwww.slideshare.net/michaelasanda

Sound: Coimbra - Amália Rodrigues