Discovering Coimbra
Coimbra is a city situated in the centre of Portugal halfway between Porto and Lisboa. For many centuries it was the sole University town of the country and hence renowned as cultural and scientific centre of Portugal. Being home to 140k inhabitants Coimbra today is certainly larger than the college campus it once was. While wandering the narrow streets and discovering the beautiful architecture Coimbra never feels like a big city though preserving the urban image like it was seen by the many generations of students which lived and studied here. Take a look for yourself.
ecorative building façades composed of thin-glazed ceramic tiles are considered a national art form in Portugal with a long historic tradition dating back to Arabic times. In Português they are called “Azulejos”, most probably stemming from the Arabic “al zulaij” meaning small polished stone. In fact the technique was adapted from Moorish decorative art in the early 16th century and gained popularity quickly in the aspiring Portuguese architecture of the time. Still today many houses as well as churches are decorated with these beautiful works of art produced over time by many tile maker workshops in different parts of the country (and in other Portuguese speaking countries around the world like Brazil). Probably there are almost as many patterns as there are Bacalhau receipts, but maybe that’s slightly exaggerated 😉 Interestingly though their use is not purely decorative in nature but the tiles also have practical gains as they help to control the temperature within the covered buildings.
Michael Hoffman Photography 