Monuments
Monuments of Coimbra
The must-sees and the ones worth a detour, with hours, prices and how to combine them.
Coimbra’s monuments stack vertically: the university and the Joanina Library on top of the hill, two cathedrals stepping down the slope, the royal tombs at Santa Cruz on the flat, and the Santa Clara monasteries across the river. Three of the city’s best-known sights are closed right now, and each page says so at the top rather than the bottom.
Must-see monuments
Arco de Almedina
Coimbra’s surviving town gate: free to walk through at any hour, with a municipal museum in the tower above that most visitors never manage to catch open.
Biblioteca Joanina
Portugal’s grandest Baroque interior, entered through a medieval jail, guarded by bats and sold only as a timed slot inside a combined university ticket.
Paço das Escolas
Portugal’s first royal household, handed to the University in 1544 and still its ceremonial heart: armoury, faculty colour rooms and two examination halls.
Sala dos Capelos
The first dynasty’s throne room, now the University’s ceremonial hall: 172 grotesque ceiling panels and every Portuguese king except sixty years of Spanish ones.
Mosteiro de Santa Cruz
A National Pantheon on the Baixa’s main square: two royal tombs you can see for nothing, and a cloister, sacristy and high choir most visitors never buy.
Sé Velha de Coimbra
A fortified Romanesque cathedral begun in 1164, with the richest Romanesque carving in Portugal and not a single human figure in it. Entry 3 EUR.
Historic monuments
Prisão Académica
The oldest preserved prison in Portugal, in the basement of the most beautiful library in Portugal, and you have to walk through it to reach the books.
Mosteiro de Santa Clara-a-Nova
Queen Isabel is buried twice in this hilltop monastery: in silver and crystal above the altar, and in the Gothic tomb her nuns dragged up from the flooded river bank.
Mosteiro de Santa Clara-a-Velha
The Gothic monastery the Mondego drowned, dug out of the silt in the 1990s and closed again since October 2025 for works. No reopening date has been published.
Torre da Universidade
Coimbra’s postcard silhouette, and it is shut. The university states the tower is closed with no date; here is the 184-step climb you cannot do, and what to do instead.
Religious buildings
Capela de São Miguel
The royal palace’s private oratory, still the university chapel: blue-and-white tiles of 1613, gilt Baroque altarpiece, and the plaque that took the crown off Portugal’s kings.
Igreja de São Tiago
One of Coimbra’s oldest buildings, on the Baixa’s busiest square, and the hardest to get information about: no official page publishes its hours or admission.
Sé Nova de Coimbra
The Jesuit College church that took a hundred years to build and became Coimbra’s cathedral in 1772 for one reason: it was bigger than the old one. Entry 1 EUR.
Gardens & parks
Frequently asked questions
Which Coimbra monuments are free?
The Paço das Escolas courtyard, the Arco de Almedina, the Penedo da Saudade and the nave of Santa Cruz containing Portugal’s first two kings. The 13-hectare botanical garden is free too.
Which Coimbra monuments are closed?
Santa Clara-a-Velha since 20 October 2025, the Machado de Castro museum since February 2026, and the University Tower. None of the three publishes a reopening date.