Coimbra

To speak of Coimbra is to speak of Portugal's oldest University. Since 1537 that the energy of this institution and of its students has spread throughout the city.

As we follow the route of the University through the city, we discover remarkable moments of architecture and urbanity in Portugal up to the contemporaneous architecture of professionals such as Fernando Távora, Camilo Cortesão, Gonçalo Byrne, João Mendes Ribeiro, Aires Mateus, Manuel Tainha, among others, in the recovery of the old premises of the University and construction of the new.

This dynamic extends itself to the city, which regained buildings such as “Casa da Escrita”, by João Mendes Ribeiro, recently brought the Portuguese Pavilion, at the Hannover exhibition, designed by Siza Vieira and Souto Moura to the riverside of Mondego and succeeded in rescuing the Santa Clara-a-Velha monastery from the frequent floods it was subjected to, a work carried out by the architects Alexandre Alves Costa and Sérgio Fernandez.