The New International Encyclopædia/Coimbra

COIMBRA, kō̇-ēm′brȧ. A city of Portugal, capital of a district of the same name, in Beira, picturesquely situated, partly on a steep rock and partly in a plain, amid vineyards and orange orchards, on the right bank of the river Mondego, 110 miles north-northeast of Lisbon (Map: Portugal, A 2). The upper town is badly built, its streets being steep, narrow, and dirty. Of the public buildings, the most noteworthy are the cathedral, the churches of São Francisco and São Salvador, and the convents of Santa Cruz and Santa Clara. There is here a fine aqueduct of twenty-one arches, which dates from the sixteenth century. The famous University of Coimbra (q.v.) is the only university in Portugal. Coimbra has manufactures of linen, woolen, earthenware, and combs. Population, in 1890, 17,329. Coimbra was the Conimbrica of the Romans. In 1064 it was taken from the Moors by Ferdinand I., and for two hundred and fifty years (1129-1383) was the capital of Portugal. It was the scene of prolonged fighting between Masséna and Wellington in the campaigns of 1810 and 1811.