Despite being kept awake much of the night by drunken university students, we did a lot on Friday. Our final Tours By Locals tour was with Nadia.
Like all the Tours By Locals we’ve done, she was great. I asked for the tour to cover three things – the university, including the famous library, the Roman ruins in the underground, and, if time, the Old Cathedral.
The funny thing is, I had no idea when I booked the apartment that it was just a half block from the old Cathedral and just around the corner from the university. First, Nadia took us down the street to point out a republica house, which means a large group of students rent it together, sort of like a frat house, but not as stupid. Our proximity to it made the previous night’s drunken revelry till 4:30 am make sense.
Then Nadia walked us up the “Palace of Confusion.” Not a palace at all, it is a jumble of neighborhood streets that go every which way but loose.
To get into the university library, you need timed tickets. Ours were for 10:40 am, so Nadia showed us around the university. Founded in 1290, 49 years after the University of Bologna (the Italian city, not the deli meat).
(Editor: A university focused on deli meats would be pretty cool. I would take the courses that focus on Spanish Jamon, Portuguese Jamon, and Italian meats. Writer: More value than Trump University.)
The center of the university is a three-winged former palace high on the hill overlooking the city. At first, law, medicine, grammar, and logic were taught. As Portugal turned seaward, astronomy and geometry were added. The university was the only one in the country until 1910, and is still considered the top place in the country for a higher education.
Nadia talked us through the history of the university, including how students used to steal the bell ringer (the part, not the person) so they could have more time to both get to class and to take exams. The university courtyard, replete with a statue of King Joao III, is surrounded on three sides by the Library, the Grand Hall, and St. Micheal’s Chapel. The King didn’t found the university, but he did finally establish the school permanently there in 1537.
We first went into the Chapel, and it is amazing (I know I say that about a lot of places in Portugal, but yeah, there’s good reason to do so. Begun in 1517, it is full of both simple and complex beauty.
From there we took the tour of the library. On the bottom floor we visited the academic prison, then a floor of overflow book stacks. Then, up the stairs to one of the most beautiful libraries in the world, even the reading tables are exquisite. There is a high altar featuring King Joao V, the founder of the library, with Baroque decorations throughout.
Photos in the library, even without flash, are strictly prohibited to protect the books. That’s why the photos of the library below are from the internet, not from me. These pictures are just a slice of how incredible the library looks.
Nadia was quick to mention the bats that live in the building provide the service of eating insects, thus protecting the old books without the use of chemicals. All of the books are from before 1755, and are in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.
A final thrill is getting let out of the huge front door onto the courtyard. There is a doorkeeper there to ensure it is not opened more frequently than once every twenty minutes or so, in an effort to protect from humidity. Our daughter Julia would have geeked about this library.
From there, we viewed the Grand Hall from above. Originally the throne room of the palace, it is used by students to defend their Ph.D. thesis. The room is quite formal and would be an intimidating setting for such an important part of one’s academic life. From there we entered one more ornate stateroom.
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