The fiftieth anniversary of 25 de Abril is on Thursday, another great excuse to get out of town. This time, we take the train to Coimbra (pop 140,796 in 2021), the capital of medieval Portugal though, of course, much smaller than Lisboa – and we hope, much more mellow. Our last visit to Coimbra was a mere lunch stop; this time we plan four days.
First order of business is lunch at a local legend, the Café Santa Cruz (nineteenth century, neo-Manueline). The Café is joined to the Igreja, on a raised terraço on the Praça Oito de Maio (for the Guerra Civil Portuguesa, not VE Day). The Praça forms a shallow valley, with ramps on either side and enclosed by the Câmara Municipal and other colorful buildings. Delineated by the flags of Portugal and the Casa de Borgonha, and a circular reflecting pool, the terraço gives us excellent views of the carvings on the entrance of the Igreja, the beautiful Café, and the bustling Praça.
Refueled, we approach the Igreja de Santa Cruz (sixteenth century). The Mosteiro dates from twelfth century and its founding by the Ordem dos Cónegos Regrantes de Santo Agostinho, whose members are known as crúzios. The complex includes the Panteão Nacional, the burial places of the first two kings.
The body of the church is rather plain, with five horizontal bands, but explodes with details at the top, around the entry and choir window, and in the free-standing Manueline portal cenográfico. Worn like a mask, it is the accumulated effort of the great Renaissance-era architects and sculptors active in Portugal at that time; Saramago's 'traveller' explains:
[H]e went to Santa Cruz. […] The doorway itself was by any account a collective work: it bears the traces of the hands of Diogo de Castilho, Nicolas de Chanterenne, Jean de Rouen and Marcos Pires without even alluding to the masons who left their work unsigned. The work of constructing the tombs of Kings Afonso Henriques and Sancho I was also collective: Diogo de Castilho again and Chanterenne again, and because all was not to be revealed, a further anonymous mason who came down through history as the Master of the Kings’ Graves, an over-obvious epithet if ever there was one. (José Saramago, “Journey to Portugal,” 1990; trans Hopkinson-Caistor, 2000)
On the left as you enter is the pulpit. Much stone and magnificent stonework by Jean de Rouen. This pulpit is so precious that from its summit the preachers didn’t even have to preach: parishioners would be enlightened simply by looking at the doctors of the Church sculpted there, as secure in the mysteries of their Faith as in the secrets of Art.The tiles covering the nave walls are equally beautiful, but our tiles can only be absorbed in homeopathic doses: if the traveller abuses this rule, he turns dizzy. Just as well that in Santa Cruz church you can go straight from the historic tiles of the nave to the floor designs in the sacristy. Here you can also find some beautiful paintings: Vasco Fernandes’ “Pentecostes”; Cristóvão de Figueiredo’s “Crucifixion” and “Ecce Homo”. The traveller leaves feeling comforted, walking the length of the pews, and decides at the end that Santa Cruz is indeed beautiful. (José Saramago, “Journey to Portugal,” 1990; trans Hopkinson-Caistor, 2000)
Through the south capela lateral on the right, we reach the Sacristia (Mannerist, seventeenth century), covered in polychrome azulejos and capped by a coffered barrel vault (look for the little angel heads). Many of the paintings listed by the 'traveller' are here (Pentecostes, c1530, by Grão Vasco is to the lower left of the great Crucifix; Ecce Homo, 1521-30, by Cristóvão de Figueiredo is to the right).
At the western end is the Capela das Relíquias, featuring the silver bust of São Teotónio (1621, one of the founding crúzios of the Mosteiro) which contains his skull.
On the opposite end of the Sacristia are two large arched doors; the right-hand door leads to the lavabo, but the left hand-door is false. Just to the left of that is a small diagonal passage that connects to the Capítulo (chapter house) and the Capela de São Teotónio (seventeenth century). This Capela features the figure of the saint and the Four Evangelists, and is the work of Mestre coimbrão Tomé Velho. The altar features paintings depicting scenes from the life of São Teotónio: healing Dom Afonso Henriques and teaching Rainha Dona Mafalda.
The Capítulo exits to the Claustro do Siléncio (sixteenth century, project by Marcos Pires), full of Mauneline carvings including 'O Fontanário' with the figure of the Anjo Custódio (guardian angel with national brasão). The relief panels are by Nicolau de Chanterene and illustrate scenes from the Via Crúcis: 'Ecce Homo', Calvário, and the Descida da Cruz.
In the southeastern corner of the Claustro is a small basin known as the Fonte Paio Guterres. The Fonte itself incorporates a quirky, simple geometry, but the vault overhead is another display of heroic Manueline.
A stairway near the back of the Igreja ascends to the galeria superio.
The Santuário is a room filled with relics, including those of the five Mártires de Marrocos. The central altar also holds the skull of a saint named António, but not of the famous one born in Lisbon. There are also two side chapels and several unusual pyramidal reliquaries.
Custodit Dominus omnia ossa eórum.[The Lord kept all their bones.]Glória haec est omnibus sanctis Ejus.[This is The Glory of all His saints.]
From the galeria superio another stair goes to the Coro Alto, where there are tremendous views of the grand organ and into the nave. The exquisite cadeiral (choir stalls, early sixteenth century, Mestre Machim) are here, relocated from their proper place behind the chancel after the installation of the two royal tombs.
On each side, a thin aisle connects two rows of seats, marked by half-round 'columns' each topped by a crowned king. Scenes of naval journeys and 'discovered' cities spread along the canopy. Crosses of the Order of Christ line the cornice, then a row of royal crests, and then armillary spheres at the top of each seat back.
Between the seats are guerreiro figures, hunched by the weight of the canopy. And at the end of each row is a plate with a cross surrounded by grotesques (note the dentist removing a hound's tooth).
Another entry fee allows access to the chancel, where we find the capela-mor and the tombs of the first two kings of Portugal (sixteenth century, project by Diogo de Castilho), Dom Alfonso Henriques and Dom Sancho I.
Each estátua jacente (reclining) is by Nicolau de Chanterene. Above the túmulos, the central image is of the Virgem: Nossa Senhora da Assunção (Afonso) and Nossa Senhora do Leite (Sancho). The lower aedicula are home to the Quatro Evangelistas: São Lucas and São Marcos São João and São Mateus (Sancho). It's interesting to note the maternal quality of the saints around Sancho's tomb, such as Santa Catarina and Maria Madalena on either side of Nossa Senhora do Leite, as if to signify this is the 'offspring'.
On either side of the capela-mor are two famous painéis azulejos – the one on the left shows Dom Alfonso pledging as a crúzios and receiving his habit from the prior, São Teotónio.
He gathers his thoughts, mingling them with more serious matters, confronting first Afonso and then Sancho, the one who conquered and the other who populated, seeing them entombed beneath those magnificent Gothic arches and decides in his traveller’s heart that many have here reposed and been celebrated ever since the twelfth century when they battled and laboured that Portugal be both won and lost. Were we to raise the slabs over the tombs, we’d see a veritable anthill of men and women, some of whom would be those who quarried this very stone, who transported and worked it and sat on it to have their dinner, eating what their wives prepared for them, and if the traveller doesn’t insert a full stop at this point, he’ll end up relating the history of Portugal. (José Saramago, “Journey to Portugal,” 1990; trans Hopkinson-Caistor, 2000)
We quickly pause our tour to check-in and unpack at the hotel, then return to the wonderful Rua Visconde da Luz, the pedestrian street that connects the Praça Oito de Maio with the Largo da Portagem and the Rio Mondego.
About halfway along the Rua is the ramped entrance to the Torre de Almedina (ninth and eleventh centuries). Passing under the tall porta, we reach the Rua de Queba Costa, a stepped alley that earns its name, 'back-breaker'.
Luckily, Queba Costa is lined with shops, restaurants, and even the local fado center, so we can climb while leisurely stopping at each window. At the top of the stairs is the Sé Velha (twelfth century).
Assuming the traveller enjoys the Romanesque as much as he says he does, he can find more than enough satisfaction in the Old Cathedral since, by general consensus, this is the loveliest building in that style in all Portugal. So it is. The traveller is brought up short by the strength and robustness of its basic components and the beauty of elements added over succeeding centuries, like the Porta Especiosa, while, on entering, he was struck by the solid enormity of its pillars, the vaulting of the high dome over its central nave. He recognises he is within a logical, complete construction, without a blemish on its essential geometry. Beauty has found its home. (José Saramago, “Journey to Portugal,” 1990; trans Hopkinson-Caistor, 2000)
The Romanesque forms are intact and legible; as if made from children's blocks, we can see read how the church is built. The dazzling tiles and light-catching reliefs provide all the colors and patterns required to bring the space to life. As the 'traveller' describes, the Sé's primitive simplicity, lovingly cleaned and lit, is its great strength.
As if to counterpoint the stark geometry, the capela-mor (late fifteenth century) is an avalanche of ornament. It is the work of Flemish sculptor Olivier de Gand, gilded by Jean d'Ypres. It tells a história da Virgem e Jesus in stunning Flamboyant Gothic. In the lower register, little vignettes identify the Four Evangelists (from left: São Mateus and angel, São Lucas and ox, São João and eagle, and São Marcus and lion). The two center vignettes show the Adoration (Nativity) and the Resurrection.
In the center, in a glorious burst of light, is Nossa Senhora da Assunção with the Twelve Apostles gesturing below. In the lateral tabernacles are São Pedro (keys) and São Paulo, and São Cosme and São Damião – doctor-saints that seem appropriate for this university town. A maze of tracery and gold stars surrounds all this, including the brasão família of Bispo Dom Jorge de Almeida, who commissioned the work. Near the top is the Crucifixion at Calvary, with the Bom e Mau Ladrão (two thieves), and the Virgem da Maria and São João Batista. And at the very top is São Miguel Arcanjo and fourteen others holding the symbols of the Via Crúcis – and in the highest vault is the Ascended Christ.
The gift shop offers magnet souvenirs to raise money for the maintenance of the capela-mor.
The capelas laterais provide additional artistic contrast. To the north, the Capela de São Pedro (early sixteenth century) is also by Nicolau de Chanterene and exemplifies Renaissance restraint. The central image is Domine Quo Vadis, while the predella panels illustrate São Pedro's Crucifixion (upside down). The architecture is rendered with a fascinating false perspective, and private conversations in the balconies. This chapel contains the tomb of Bispo de Almeida.
To the south, the Capela do Santíssimo (sixteenth century) is another by João de Ruão and displays a more dynamic take on the Renaissance. A layered hemicycle of Corinthian columns over pilasters, Christ occupies the central niche above the Eucharist reserve, while ten Apostles display the instruments of their martyrdom. The bottom row holds, on the left, São Cristóvãl (branch staff) and the Virgem da Maria; and on the right, the Four Evangelists (João/eagle, Mateus/angel, Lucas/ox, and Marcus/lion). A beautifully adorned dome covers the capela with swags and miniature portraits.
The traveller persists in his weaknesses and has the courage to own up to them: without in any way detracting from what the Old Cathedral of Coimbra is and has, he knows himself to be most profoundly moved when among the little rustic Romanesque churches of the North, at times almost stripped bare, eaten away on all sides, outdoors and in, often as worn as a rounded boulder, but always so near and dear to his heart he can feel the stone beating. (José Saramago, “Journey to Portugal,” 1990; trans Hopkinson-Caistor, 2000)
We step into the claustro (thirteenth century) to feel the stone. The sky is a perfect blue and the shadows on the arches and ribs are crisp.
The claustro contains two important capelas. At the Capela de São Miguel (twelfth century), a gracefully aged Crucifix greets us. The 'Santo Cristo do Arnado' (sixteenth century, ofícina de João de Ruão) stands on a column with a skull and crossbones, the Order of Christ cross, and the Portuguese royal crest, which includes an unusual finial, perhaps an armillary sphere. To one side is the túmulo of Dom Julião Pais, chanceler to the first three kings of Portugal. The archaic rubble stone embedded in the wall above the tiled offerings stand and the lively grotesques in the column capitals give the Capela age and gravitas.
We depart the Sé just as the sunlight streams through the stained glass streaks the triforium with color.
Here in the Old Cathedral of Coimbra the architect introduced an element which is logically missing from those poor churches and to which the traveller is deeply sensitive: the triforium, a gallery on reinforced columns running above the lateral naves and among the loveliest inventions of the Romanesque style. And it’s the triforium which redresses the balance and sends the traveller forth on the path of righteousness that the Old Cathedral is owed. (José Saramago, “Journey to Portugal,” 1990; trans Hopkinson-Caistor, 2000)
The docent reminds us to see the Porta Especiosa (c1530) another project designed by Nicolau de Chanterene but executed by João de Ruão. It's a tri-level triumphal arch folded against the old blocks, with the door, a varandim (balcony), and a half-empty niche. We wonder at the quality of the material, the Porta seems to be melting away (note the cornices and tacked-on metal flashing), and Saramago's warning of the stone's being "eaten away on all sides". In the tympanum above the door is the Medalhão da Virgem. whose edges still look sharp, while the medallions with Hércules and Ganimedes are less fortunate.
In the side niches are São João Batista, holding the Agnus Dei, and the Profeta Isaías. In the upper-level niches are São Miguel slaying a demon, opposite Rute, and in the center is Sant'Ana (perhaps missing the figure of Mary as a child?); these stones are tied with metal straps. And as at the Capela de São Pedro, there are characters (angels?) inhabiting the top-most openings.
We make our way back to down our hotel taking out time, stopping for gelado. Despite the lost time in travel, the day is a full one. The vibrant streets and hills of Coimbra make for joyous exploration. From the Praça do Comercio, we pass the Igreja de Santiago (late twelfth century) and back down the Rua da Sofia.
We have time before dinner to relax and review our photos.
Dinner is at Refeitro da Baixa, in a charming old ceramics factory; can't help but take a few pictures. After our meal, we finish the night wandering on the enchanting Rua de Fernandes Thomás, covered with crochet blankets, then to the Largo do Portagem, and circle back to the Santa Cruz – all as the full moon rises.
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