The College of Eleven Thousand Virgins was built in 1598 near the University of Coimbra by the Company of Jesus, which had been in the city since 1541. Work progressed slowly and the church was only inaugurated in 1698. The Jesuits occupied the site until 1759, the year in which the Company was terminated by the Marquis of Pombal and in 1772 the Episcopal See was transferred from the Church of Santa Maria (the Old Cathedral in Romanesque style) to this rather spacious building.

Visitez la cathédrale Sé Nova pour voir la seule église du Portugal à avoir survécu à la Reconquista presque intacte. Lors de la visite du centre historique de Coimbra, vous pourrez vous promener dans la Quebra-Costas, l'Arco da Almedina, la Porta do Barbacã et la Rua Ferreira Borges.

A centre of learning, par excellence, the University of Coimbra was founded in 1290 and is one of the oldest in Europe, and was classified World heritage site by UNESCO; this classification includes also the Uptown and Sofia Street. Founded in 1290 by Dom Dinis, with the name of "Estudos Gerais" (General Studies), the University was transferred between Lisbon and Coimbra during the reigns of several monarchs until it was definitively established in this city in 1537, by Dom João III. Since then, it has continued to occupy the same building, the former mediaeval royal palace, acquired by the university in 1597 from Filipe II of Spain, who also ruled over Portugal at that time.

The Biblioteca Joanina is considered one of the richest Baroque libraries in Europe. Built between 1717 and 1728, this sumptuous space is located in the most central part of the University of Coimbra, the Paço das Escolas. The structure was built to house the university library, with a collection of over 300,000 volumes dating from before 1800 and a large Old Testament collection. The library has three rooms that nobly reflect the patronage spirit of its founder, King John V of Portugal, decorated in gold on green, red and black backgrounds. The monarch's coat of arms welcomes visitors in the large portico at the entrance, and the King is also present in the wall at the back of the building, at the junction of the three rooms, a portrait dating from 1730 which acts as a "vanishing point".

Founded outside the walls in 1131 by the Observing Canons of St. Augustine, the Mosteiro de Santa Cruz is one of the oldest and most important monuments in Coimbra. Dom Afonso Henriques, the first king of Portugal, came here to attend the religious services whenever he returned from the battles that he fought in the campaign of the Christian Reconquest. It is perhaps for this reason that he chose the monastery to serve as the place of his eternal rest, as did his son, Dom Sancho I. Santa Cruz was the home of the first mediaeval college in Portugal, which was designed to strengthen the newly-emerging royal power through its educational vitality. It was within the walls of this monastery that one of the most universal figures of western culture in the 12th and 13th centuries, St. Anthony, a Doctor of the Church, continued his theological studies and deepened his vast knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, a feature which is so clearly visible in his sermons.

The Mosteiro de Santa Clara was built in 1314 at the orders of the Queen Saint Isabel of Aragon, replacing a small convent of nuns of the Order of St. Clare, founded in 1286. The building was completed in 1330, having been designed by the architect Domingos Domingues, who had previously worked on the Mosteiro de Alcobaça. This convent is a fine example of the architecture of that period, being notable for the size of the church and cloister and the stone vault that covers the three naves of the church, all of which are of the same size. Because of its location on the banks of the River Mondego, the convent was subjected to frequent floods that led to the building of an upper floor and the abandonment of the almost permanently submerged ground floor. In the 17th century, the king Dom João IV commissioned the building of a new convent at a high point in the city.

Explore the religious and learned centers of Portugal Visit the Santuário de Fátima and learn about the Marian Apparitions Visit the Casa dos 3 Pastorinhos in Valinhos