The Coimbra University in Portugal
By Seif Kamel
The Coimbra University is one of the governmental universities in
Lisbon in Portugal and perhaps the oldest in Europe. Although the
university was founded at the end of the 13 th century, it changed many
locations until it reached its current place in 1573. The Coimbra
University is also included in many travel packages to Portugal today.
As the most ancient university that continued working until today, the
Coimbra University enjoys many wonderful aspects. It has 8 different
faculties and hosts up 20 thousand students from all over the world. As a
unique establishment, the University of Coimbra was added to the
UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2013.
King Denis, who ruled over Portugal from 1279 till 1325 AD,
established the University of Coimbra. He was famous for his many
reforms when he made the Portuguese the official language of the
country and also got rid of military orders.
The king never knew at the time that he would be founding one of the
oldest and most famous universities in the world. Today, many
vacationers who travel to Portugal would have a tour in the university to
view its architectural elegance.
Portugal link: http://www.righttravel.info/country/portugal-7.html