Coimbra

Coimbra, officially the City of Coimbra, is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2021 census was 140,796, in an area of 319.40 square kilometres (123.3 sq mi). It is the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto, and Braga, and is the largest city of the district of Coimbra and the Central Region. About 460,000 people live in its intermunicipal community. Among the many archaeological structures dating back to the Roman era, when Coimbra was the settlement of Aeminium, are its well-preserved aqueduct and cryptoporticus. Similarly, buildings from the period when Coimbra was the capital of Portugal (from 1131 to 1255) still remain. During the late Middle Ages, with its decline as the political centre of the Kingdom of Portugal, Coimbra began to evolve into a major cultural centre. This was in large part helped by the establishment of the first Portuguese university in 1290 in Lisbon and its relocation to Coimbra in 1308, making it the oldest academic institution in the Portuguese-speaking world.