The sheer beauty of Coimbra’s university

Ah! Coimbra.
 
So bloody hilly.
 
And where do they place their university? Right on the top of the tallest hill. And where is the tour of the university? Well, at the university, of course, not that you’d know that from looking at the tickets we bought. They had no information on them other than the time of the tour and the fact it was a tour of the University of Coimbra’s Joanine Library, the Royal Palace, and the Capela de São Miguel. Normally, I avoid guided tours like the plague, but this time it seemed to be the only way we could get into the library, so I figured it was worth the endless traipsing around and being told meaningless information I really didn’t want to know. But to get to the tour, we had to get to the meeting place. And to get to the meeting place, we had to find where the meeting place was. And nobody would tell me.
 
In the end, I tracked down a number for the university and had an impossible conversation with someone who didn’t speak English. In the end, after three different people had come to the phone, I got put through to the public affairs office, who seemed to understand what I needed straight away (I imagine I was not the first person to have had this problem). All I had to do, they said, was climb the hill (“don’t drive, whatever you do”), find the New Cathedral, and walk down to Largo Marquês de Pombal. The ticket office was there and that was where the tour would start. So, that was what we did.
 
Have I mentioned that Coimbra is basically one hill on top of another hill and that all of the hills go upwards, all the time. Even when you are coming down the hill you have to go up. The incline to the university was steep, but we Canadians are made of hardy stock and so up we climbed.
 
All I can say is that it was worth it. As “lived in” as Coimbra might be, the university is an absolute jewel. I’d seen a documentary on the Joanine library a couple of years back and had made a mental note that it was a place to visit. Coimbra is, if like me you had no idea, one of the world’s oldest universities, and is a UNESCO Heritage Site. It was founded in 1290, and has occupied its current building, a former royal palace, since 1544. Its library, which is absolutely amazing, dates from the 1700s, and was a gift from King João V (hence the name, Joanine), who, thanks to the pillage of gold from Brazil, was one of Europe’s richest monarchs. The gold-covered library has some 60,000 books. To get to it, you have to go through what our guide called an “academic prison”. If students were late to class or late getting in of an evening, they would literally be put in a cell until the university president allowed them to leave. The library was very strictly controlled. A group is allowed in for 10 minutes only, no photos are permitted, and after the group leaves, the room is aired out for 20 minutes to prevent condensation from forming. It even has, believe it or not, a small colony of bats, which feed on the insects that would otherwise infest the books. Every night, before the bats are released, staff go around covering the tables (which have to be seen to be believed – all from the tropics and inlaid) with leather towels, which protects them.
 
Our group was very small, just the three of us and one American lady. The guide was a petite, polyglot French Master’s student called Julie, who was funny and knowledgeable, and managed to get us into areas that were normally closed. As much as I loved the tour of the library (and the palace and chapel), I couldn’t help but feel frustrated. To be so close to those books – but to not be able to spend more time with them – was just annoying. I know why they do it and I wholeheartedly agree. The last thing the world needs is wanton vandalism of irreplaceable treasures. But honestly, you think they’d make an exception for me, wouldn’t you?
 
The three of us sat, post-tour, in the main university square, astounded by what we had seen. The sheer majesty of the place is surreal. Why cannot we build stuff like that now? The whole of North America is essentially a beauty-free zone in terms of architecture (well, with the possible exception of Washington, DC). I know there are numerous things on which money needs to be spent, but it shouldn’t be hard to make more of an effort.
 
We walked back to the apartment quite quietly. All of a sudden, mid-afternoon, I wanted a nap. So Mrs. Ottawacker took Ottawacker Jr. out to look for an ice cream, and I lay on the bed reading until the inevitable happened. For our evening dinner, we again raided the Italian take out place and used up as many of the leftovers as we could. Then we played cards and packed: incredibly, we were leaving Coimbra the next day.