The University of Coimbra is one of the oldest universities in the world, and the oldest in Portugal. Founded in 1290 as the Studium Generale (General Study), it was transferred — along with its library collection — between Lisbon and Coimbra several times before finally settling in Coimbra in 1537.*

In January, I took advantage of being in Portugal to visit the university campus and its baroque, Joanine Library. The weather was cold, windy, and rainy. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful visit.

Biblioteca Joanina — Joanine Library

The baroque library building was constructed between 1717 and 1728 but the original building was located at another site, where the Biblioteca Geral now stands.

When entering the Biblioteca Joanina, visitors go through the side door into an alcove that leads to the Academic Prison — two cells remain and are part of the tour — from there, visitors go up some steps into the Middle Floor before reaching the Noble Floor. We exit through the main door, pictured above.

The slideshow above has pictures of the Biblioteca Joanina, its entrances, Academic Prison, and the Middle Floor.

*The Noble Floor*

The no-photography policy means that I sadly did not get any photos of the grand, baroque interior, but the UC visitor website has images and a description of the library.

Digitization Projects

The **Digital Joanina** **Project**

Launched in 2025 in coordination with the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA), books from the Noble Floor are being catalogued and digitized, resulting in a digital collection several thousand unique, printed books from the Early Modern era. I saw some of this digitization work being done on a large scanner in the Middle Floor while I was there.

The SOS Old Book Project aims to find support for the restoration of rare and precious documents from the University of Coimbra General Library.

The Coimbra Institute Project ran from 2008 through 2014 with the goals of digitizing O Instituto: Revista Científica e Literária (1852-1981); developing a full-text search tool for the General Library Digital collection that would enable article downloads and searching based on author, title, and keyword; cataloguing the Institute's library and archival collection; and supporting new research work on the history of the University.

The Facsimile Edition of "Portuguese Pharmacopoeias" Project started in 2014 as a collaboration between the General Library of the University of Coimbra, Bluepharma-Indústria Farmacêutica, SA, and the University of Coimbra Press.

AlmaMater is the digital library of the University of Coimbra, uniting several digital collections, including the Digital General Library, Faculty of Law Digital Library, Botany Digital Library, RÓMULO Digital, and the Faculty of Arts and Humanities Digital Library, among others.

Biblioteca Geral — General Library

The Biblioteca Geral has been a national depository library since 1931; its main hall is São Pedro Hall. Entrance into this building was not included in the tour.

In 2008, the Digital General Library project was initiated, and forms one of the first AlmaMater digital collections, including newspapers and journals, ancient books, books, maps, and drawings.

More Images of the Campus & Its Surroundings

My (self-guided) tour permitted entrance to the Royal Palace, St. Michael’s Chapel, Cabinet of Curiosities, and academic buildings including lecture halls and a chemistry lab, with displays of technologies that aided Portugal during its age of exploration.