COIMBRA

city, capital, and concelho (municipality), Coimbra district, north-central Portugal, on the northern bank of the Mondego River. A 4th-century Latin inscription identifies Coimbra with Aeminium, while Condeixa, 8 miles (13 km) southwest, was the ancient Conimbriga or Conimbrica. Aeminium was for more than a century a Moorish stronghold, but in 878 it was recaptured by Alfonso III of Asturias and Leon and peopled by Galicians from the north. When the see of Conimbriga was transferred there, the bishop kept the old name and Aeminium became known as Coimbra. Captured by Ferdinand I of Castile in 1064, it was for more than a century a base for the reconquest of Portugal from the Moors. From 1139 until 1260, when it was replaced by Lisbon, the city of Coimbra was the capital of Portugal. Six medieval kingsSancho I and II, Afonso II and III, Pedro I, and Ferdinand Iwere born there, as was the 16th-century poet Francisco de S de Miranda. Portugal's oldest university, founded in 1290 in Lisbon, finally settled at Coimbra as the Universidade de Coimbra in 1537. Its chapel has a magnificently carved door (151722) and a richly decorated Baroque library (171623), which has 1,000,000 volumes and 3,000 manuscripts, among them a first edition of Lus de Cames' epic Os Lusadas (1572; The Portuguese). In the early 16th century the city was a centre for polyphonic music, which travelers carried to Ethiopia and to the Congo region. Other notable landmarks in Coimbra include the Romanesque old cathedral (1170); the church of So Salvador (12th century); the new cathedral, begun in 1598; the Machado de Castro Museum in the old episcopal palace, restored in 1592; Santa Cruz church, built in the reign of Afonso I and rebuilt in 1520; the Aqueduct of So Sebastio (156870), rebuilt on Roman foundations; and the 12th-century Monastery of Celas, built by Beata Sancha, daughter of Sancho I. On the north side of the Mondego, linked to Coimbra by a stone bridge, is the suburb of Santa Clara; within this suburb are the old 13th- and new 17th-century convents of Santa Clara, where Inez de Castro, mistress of King Pedro I, was supposedly murdered. Coimbra's main industries are the making of pottery, fabrics, beer, wine, paper, and leather. A publishing house was established there in the 19th century. Coimbra lies along the electrified railroad and the highway between Porto and Lisbon. Another highway and railroad extend east from near Coimbra to Guarda and to Spain. Coimbra district surrounds the city. Agriculture (grain, olives, rice, fruits) and fishing are the main occupations. Small petroleum deposits have been found in the district, but they are not commercially exploited. Dams on the Mondego and its tributary, the Alva, are an important source of hydroelectricity. Area 1,533 square miles (3,971 square km). Pop. (1991 prelim.) city, 96,142; concelho, 145,724; (1993 est.) district, 425,400.