Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Cost and Hours: A combo-ticket for the two university sights that charge admis-
sion—the Grand Hall and King John's Library—is €7, daily April-Oct 8:30-19:30, Nov-
March 10:00-16:00, ticket office closes 30 minutes before sights, www.uc.pt/en/informa-
caopara . Buy your ticket at the counter located inside the Biblioteca Geral (the large
building to the left and outside of the Iron Gate). Your library entry time will be printed
on the receipt that comes with your ticket; you'll need to show the receipt later to enter
either sight.
Getting There: To get to the university, consider taking the “Welcome to Coimbra's
Old Town” walk (earlier), and using the elevator from the Mercado Municipal to get to
the top of the hill. Or take a taxi to the Iron Gate, then sightsee Coimbra downhill.
IronGate(PortaFérrea) —Find the gate to the old university (on Praça da Porta Férrea).
Before entering, stand with your back to the gate (and the old university) and look across
the stark, modern square at the fascist architecture of the new university. In what's con-
sidered one of the worst cultural crimes in Portuguese history, the dictator António Salaz-
ar tore down half of Coimbra's old town to build these university halls. Salazar, proud that
Portugal was the last European power to hang onto its colonial empire, wanted a fittingly
monumental university here. After all, Salazar—along with virtually everyone of politic-
al influence in Portugal—had been educated at Coimbra, where he studied law and then
became an economics professor. If these bold buildings are reminiscent of Mussolini's
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