Old Cathedral of Coimbra

Coordinates: 40°12′31.6″N 8°25′37.5″W / 40.208778°N 8.427083°W / 40.208778; -8.427083
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
West façade of the Old Cathedral of Coimbra

The Old Cathedral of Coimbra (

Afonso Henriques declared himself King of Portugal and chose Coimbra as capital.[1] The first Count of Coimbra, the Mozarab Sisnando Davides
, is buried in the cathedral.

History

Sueves in 468. Almost nothing is known of the cathedrals that preceded the Sé Velha in Coimbra. In 1139, after the Battle of Ourique, King Afonso Henriques decided to finance the building of a new cathedral, given the bad shape of its predecessor. The definitive impulse to the project was given by Bishop Miguel Salomão, who helped pay for the works. In 1185, King Sancho I, second King of Portugal, was crowned in the new cathedral, indicating that the building work was in an advanced state. The basic building was finished in the first decades of the 13th century, even though the cloisters were begun only in 1218, during the reign of King Afonso II
.

The project of the Romanesque cathedral is attributed to Master Robert, a – possibly – French architect who was directing the building of Lisbon Cathedral at that time and visited Coimbra regularly. The works were supervised by Master Bernard, possibly also French, who was succeeded by Master Soeiro, an architect active in other churches around the Diocese of Porto.

In the 16th century there were many additions to the cathedral. The chapels, walls and pillars of the nave were covered with

Marquis of Pombal, the seat of the bishopric was transferred from the old medieval cathedral to the Mannerist Jesuit church, thereafter called the New Cathedral of Coimbra
(Sé Nova de Coimbra).

View of the Eastern façade of the Old Cathedral of Coimbra. Note the lantern-tower, main chapel and North chapel in Romanesque style. The South chapel (partially visible to the left) is Renaissance.

Architecture

Coimbra Cathedral is the only one of the Portuguese Romanesque cathedrals from the Reconquista times to have survived relatively intact up to the present. The cathedrals of Porto, Braga, Lisbon and others have been extensively remodelled over time.

Exterior

From the outside, Coimbra's old cathedral looks like a small fortress, with its high,

Pre-romanesque influences. The façade is reinforced by thick buttresses
at the corners that compensate for the angle of the terrain (the cathedral was built on the slope of a hill).

The north façade has a remarkable, although eroded, Renaissance-style portal called the Porta Especiosa. The three-storey portal was built in the 1530s by French sculptor João de Ruão (Jean of Rouen). From the east side one can see the semicircular apse with its three radiating chapels; the main and the northern chapels are still Romanesque while the southern one has been rebuilt in Renaissance times. Over the transept there is a Romanesque roof lantern with some Baroque details.

Renaissance Porta Especiosa on the North façade of the Cathedral

Interior

The interior of the cathedral has a nave with two aisles, a small transept, and an eastern apse with three chapels. The nave is covered by barrel vaulting and the lateral aisles by groin vaults. The nave has an upper storey, a spacious triforium (arched gallery), that could accommodate more Mass attendants in the tribunes if needed. All columns of the interior have decorated capitals, mainly with vegetable motifs, but also with animals and geometric patterns. The windows of the lantern-tower and the big window in the west facade are the main sources of natural light of the cathedral.

The

Afonso II (early 13th century),[2] is a work of the transition between Romanesque and Gothic
. Each of the Gothic pointed arches that face the courtyard encompasses two twin round arches in Romanesque style.

Art

Capitals

The most remarkable aspect of the Romanesque decoration of the Old Coimbra Cathedral is the large number of sculptured

mozarabic, i.e. Christians who lived in Arab territories and who had settled in Coimbra in the 12th century. These artists were perhaps not used to human representations, which are forbidden in Islam
.

Tombs

From the

King Dinis I. Her tomb carries the symbol of the Byzantine Empire
: a two-headed eagle.

Cloister

16th century

At the turn of the 15th to the 16th century, Bishop Jorge de Almeida sponsored a major decorative campaign. The columns and walls of the aisles were covered with

Flamboyant Gothic style, illustrates the history of Mary and Christ and occupies the whole space of the Romanesque main chapel. It is the best of its kind in the country. The altar
is supported by an altar table in Romanesque style.

The northern chapel (chapel of Saint Peter) has a

Nicolau Chanterene (early 16th century). The southern chapel of the apse was totally rebuilt in high Renaissance style and contains a magnificent retable featuring Jesus and the Apostles. The altar was finished around 1566 and is the work of João de Ruão
(Jean of Rouen). In the 1530s, the same artist had built the Porta Especiosa in the North façade.

The transept has a nice baptismal font in Gothic-Renaissance style (1520–1540), from the church of Saint John of Almedina (São João de Almedina). The original Manueline baptismal font from Coimbra Cathedral is now in the New Cathedral of Coimbra (the former Jesuit church of the city).

References

  1. ^ "Afonso Henriques never had the title of Count, but rather of Prince ("Princeps" or "Infans")" (PDF). Academia Portuguesa de História I.
  2. ^ Comissão Fabriqueira da Sé Velha de Coimbra, Guide for Visit to Cathedral and Cloister, n.d.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sé Velha de Coimbra.

40°12′31.6″N 8°25′37.5″W / 40.208778°N 8.427083°W / 40.208778; -8.427083

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