It seems crazy to say that cars were once parked here, where one of the University of Coimbra’s most emblematic spaces now stands. What we see today as the Paço das Escolas was once a verdant courtyard, occupied by a garden that provided a welcoming and harmonious atmosphere. However, over the course of the 20th century, this garden was removed to make way for a parking lot, at a time when the priority was functionality and adaptation to the needs of the modern university.
Since the end of the 2000s, the Paço das Escolas has taken on its current configuration, the result of an effort to requalify the space and restore its historical dignity. The parking lot was eliminated and the space reorganized, creating a large, harmonious square in keeping with its heritage value. Today, the Paço das Escolas is not only a landmark of the University of Coimbra, but also a privileged setting for academic and tourist events.
The transformation of this site over the centuries reflects not only the needs of the University, but also the change in mentality regarding the preservation of heritage and public space. While priority was once given to parking and automobile circulation, today there is a clear effort to recover the historical identity of this iconic site, maintaining it as one of the great symbols of the city and of Portuguese academic culture.
