Free Walking Tour Coimbra: Kings, Scholars, Cathedrals

Your Coimbra Walking Tour, from Pantheon to City Gate

1. 1

   Monastery of Santa Cruz

   

   You start where the Portuguese monarchy chose to be buried. Saint Theotonius founded the Monastery of Santa Cruz in 1131 for the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross and became its first prior, and he built it deliberately outside Coimbra's protecting walls. The church and monastery rose between 1132 and 1223, and because the first two kings of Portugal lie here, the church holds the status of National Pantheon.

   What you see today is not that first building. The Romanesque monastery, with a single nave and a tall tower on the facade, has vanished entirely. In the first half of the 16th century King Manuel took the monastery under his protection and had it rebuilt from scratch. Diogo de Boitaca laid out the Manueline church and the chapter house, so look up at the basket-handled and ribbed vaults; Marco Pires then finished the church, the Chapel of St Michael and the Cloister of Silence.

   Head for the main chapel. In 1530 the tombs of Afonso Henriques and his successor Sancho I were moved there, set in sculptural work by Nicolau Chanterene. The choice of burial place was no accident: papal privileges and royal grants made the monastery rich, its school and vast library drew the intellectual and political elite, and Afonso Henriques used its scriptorium to consolidate royal power.

   The church is free, the sacristy costs extra and is worth it if you want more time with the Manueline interior. From here the longest leg of the walk takes you 840 m, about 14 minutes, to the university.

   Local name

   Mosteiro de Santa Cruz

   Hours

   Mon–Sat: 09:30–16:30 | Sun: 13:00–17:00

   Price

   Free (church); 3 EUR (sacristy)

   Website

   igrejascruz.webnode.pt ↗

   Location

   Monastery of Santa Cruz on Google Maps ↗

2. 2

   University of Coimbra

   

   King Dinis signed the charter on 1 March 1290, a document known by its opening words, Scientiae thesaurus mirabilis, and Pope Nicholas IV confirmed it on 9 August the same year. That makes the University of Coimbra the oldest in Portugal and one of the oldest in the world still in continuous operation. The odd part: it did not start here. It began in Lisbon as a Studium Generale and only settled permanently in Coimbra in 1537.

   The first faculties were Arts, Law, Canon Law and Medicine. The papal bull allowed every faculty except Theology. Over the centuries the university trained Portugal's national poet Luís de Camões, the mathematician Pedro Nunes, many prime ministers and presidents, and the Nobel laureate António Egas Moniz. Its weight across the Portuguese-speaking world, its architecture and its traditions earned it UNESCO World Heritage status in 2013.

   Is it worth going in? If you only pay for one interior on this walk, make it this one. The combined ticket covers the Joanina Library, the Paço das Escolas and the Science Museum. Come earlier in the day rather than leaving it to the end, especially for the library.

   From the university it's 450 m, about 7 minutes, to the New Cathedral, which began life as one of the university's colleges.

   Local name

   Universidade de Coimbra

   Hours

   Daily 09:00–19:30 (Paço das Escolas), last admission 19:15; Biblioteca Joanina last admission 19:00

   Price

   16.50 EUR adult (Joanina Library + Paço das Escolas + Science Museum combined tour)

   Website

   uc.pt ↗

   Location

   University of Coimbra on Google Maps ↗

3. 3

   New Cathedral of Coimbra

   

   The New Cathedral of Coimbra on Largo da Feira was never meant to be a cathedral. It was the church of a Jesuit college, the College of the Holy Name of Jesus, one of the many colleges around the university. The Jesuits had arrived in Coimbra in 1541, and in 1598 work began on a design by Baltazar Álvares, their official architect in Portugal, who drew on the church of São Vicente de Fora in Lisbon. Building went slowly: services began in 1640, and the church was only inaugurated in 1698.

   Look at the facade before you go in. The lower part is Mannerist, with strong, plain lines and four statues of Jesuit saints; the upper part was only finished in the 18th century and is Baroque, so you can read the long construction time straight off the front.

   Then the twist. In 1759 the Marquis of Pombal expelled the Jesuits from Portugal, and in 1772 the bishop's seat moved here from the Old Cathedral, simply because this church was larger and held more people. Today the two churches share the role of the diocese's seat, and this one has been a National Monument since 1910.

   Inside, a single vaulted nave leads to a transept with a dome and lantern. The transept and main chapel are filled with huge gilded woodwork altarpieces from the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and the side chapels hold Mannerist and Baroque altarpieces. Entry is free, on weekdays only. The museum is next door, just 140 m or 2 minutes away.

   Local name

   Sé Nova de Coimbra

   Hours

   Mon–Fri: 09:00–18:00 | Sat–Sun: Closed

   Price

   Free

   Website

   facebook.com ↗

   Location

   New Cathedral of Coimbra on Google Maps ↗

4. 4

   Machado de Castro Museum

   

   The Machado de Castro Museum is currently closed, so this is a stop for the outside. What you see on Largo Dr. José Rodrigues is the former Bishop's Palace of Coimbra, a National Monument since 1910, joined by a large new building opened in 2012. Since 2013 it has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage area of the University of Coimbra, Alta and Sofia.

   The museum is named after Machado de Castro, the sculptor born in Coimbra, and holds major collections of sculpture, painting and decorative arts. It was created by decree in 1911 and opened on 11 October 1913 under its first director, António Augusto Gonçalves. His plan sounds surprising today: the museum was to show the history of national craftsmanship and include a section of modern objects to educate public taste and train the working classes. It also absorbed the Cathedral Museum, opened in 1884 as Portugal's first museum of sacred art.

   Take a few minutes for the old palace front, then walk on: the Old Cathedral is 300 m away, about 5 minutes.

   Local name

   Museu Nacional de Machado de Castro

   Status

   Currently closed

   Website

   cm-coimbra.pt ↗

   Location

   Machado de Castro Museum on Google Maps ↗

5. 5

   Old Cathedral of Coimbra

   

   After the Battle of Ourique in 1139, Afonso Henriques declared himself king, made Coimbra his capital and decided to pay for a new cathedral, because the old one was in poor shape. Bishop Miguel Salomão gave the project its real push and helped fund the works. By 1185 the building was far enough along for Sancho I, the second king of Portugal, to be crowned here. The main structure was finished in the early 13th century, and the cloister was begun in 1218 under Afonso II.

   The design is credited to Master Robert, possibly a Frenchman, who was building Lisbon Cathedral at the time and came to Coimbra regularly. Master Bernard supervised the works, followed by Master Soeiro. The site itself is far older than the building: Coimbra, the Roman city of Aeminium, has been a bishop's seat since the 5th century, after the Sueves sacked neighbouring Conimbriga in 468. Inside lies Sisnando Davides, the first Count of Coimbra.

   Watch for the 16th-century additions laid over the Romanesque core. Tiles cover the chapels, walls and pillars of the nave, the Porta Especiosa stands on the north side of the facade, and the southern apse chapel was rebuilt in Renaissance style. The Romanesque structure itself stayed intact, even after the bishops moved to the Jesuit church in 1772.

   The ticket is worth it if the Romanesque church and its tiles are what drew you to Coimbra. From the cathedral it's 170 m, about 3 minutes, to the last stop.

   Local name

   Sé Velha de Coimbra

   Hours

   Mon–Fri: 10:00–17:30 | Sat: 10:00–18:00 | Sun: 11:00–17:30

   Price

   4 EUR

   Location

   Old Cathedral of Coimbra on Google Maps ↗

6. 6

   Arco de Almedina

   

   The Arco de Almedina is a gate and nothing more, which is exactly its charm: a public passage with no opening hours, no ticket and no queue. During the Feira Medieval, the market fills the streets around it and the gate is at its liveliest; the rest of the year it is simply a threshold.

   And a threshold is the right place to end. You started at a monastery founded in 1131 deliberately outside the city walls, and you finish at one of the city's gates, pantheon to gate, one way. If you want to return to the start, the GPS navigation in your browser leads you back to Santa Cruz; otherwise the rest of Coimbra is yours.

   Hours

   Open year-round

   Price

   0 EUR

   Location

   Arco de Almedina on Google Maps ↗

Shorter or cheaper ways to walk Coimbra

The full route works best on a weekday morning, but two other ways of walking it make sense, depending on your budget and how much time you have.

All six stops without paid tickets

Stops: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

For a tight budget or a short stay. You walk the whole route, 32 minutes on foot, go inside the Santa Cruz church and the New Cathedral, which are both free, and see the university and the Old Cathedral from outside. Allow around an hour and a half.

The hilltop core: university and cathedrals

Stops: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

For anyone short on time who still wants the big interiors. You start at the university and skip the monastery, which cuts the walking to 17 minutes (7, 2, 5 and 3 minutes between the stops). Entry: the university's combined ticket and the Old Cathedral. Plan a little over three hours.

How Long Does the Coimbra Walk Take with Its Interiors?

The walking itself takes 32 minutes over 1.9 km, and the longest leg, 840 m from the monastery to the university, comes first. Everything after that sits close together: no leg is longer than 450 m.

With the interiors that are worth paying for, count on about four hours. A weekday that starts at 09:30 at Santa Cruz looks like this: half an hour in the church, the university by 10:14, two hours there, the New Cathedral at 12:21, a short look at the museum facade at 12:43, the Old Cathedral at 12:53 and the Arco de Almedina at about 13:26. The free version takes around an hour and a half, the hilltop core a little over three hours.

Before you set off in Coimbra

• Start and finish: The recommended start is the Monastery of Santa Cruz, the finish is the Arco de Almedina. You can join at any stop; when you're done, the GPS navigation can lead you from the gate back to the start.
• Best day: A weekday is the most relaxed choice. Check before you go that all the churches are open on your day.
• Best time to start: Start in the morning, once Santa Cruz has opened. That leaves you plenty of time for the university later on.
• What it costs: The walk is free. Going inside costs extra in three places: the university, the Old Cathedral and the Santa Cruz sacristy.

Common Questions about Coimbra