Coimbra through the ages

Coimbra in 1750

City of the Doctors

Coimbra in 1750 is a baroque university city clinging to a limestone hill above the broad Mondego, its academical life poured into cloistered colleges and narrow climbing lanes. The walk moves from the river and willow meadows up through the Arco de Almedina into the Alta, past the newly gilt Joanina Library, the clock tower and the stone colonnades, to a rooftop panorama over the Mondego.

Low, terracotta roofs tumble up a steep limestone ridge to the white and ochre walls of the Alta, pierced by narrow shaded alleys and colonnaded walks. The Joanina’s dark oak and gilt facades and the freshly finished clock tower punctuate a skyline of church towers and monastery roofs. By the river, willow flats and reeded banks frame a modest quay of boats and oxcarts; stone bridges and Roman cryptoporticus remain visible at the city’s base.

Planned from the Wikipedia record: University of Coimbra.