Visiting the University of Coimbra: the Joanina Library, the Palace of Schools and the ticket programmes

The short answer

The University of Coimbra runs its own visit. UC Tourism, the university's tourism service, sells it at visit.uc.pt, and its pages list three visitable spaces in the Palace of Schools: the Joanina Library, Saint Michael's Chapel and the Royal Palace.[1] The decision that matters is which programme to buy, because only some include the library. The "Joanina Library + University + Science Museum" programme does; "University + Science Museum" covers the chapel, the Royal Palace and the Science Museum spaces but leaves the library out.[2]

The library is also the one part of the visit tied to a clock. UC Tourism's guidelines say a non-guided ticket can be used over two days, except for the Joanina Library, "which has a specific date and time scheduled at the moment of ticket purchase".[1] XTOUR does not know how far ahead slots run out or how many there are.

Who runs it, and what the names mean

The Palace of Schools (Paço das Escolas) is the old royal palace where, according to UC Tourism, the university settled in 1544 after being definitively established in Coimbra in 1537.[3] It sits in Coimbra, and the visit is the university's, not the city's or the state's.

The university's own pages use several names, and they are worth untangling before buying:

• Joanina Library and Baroque Library are the same place. UC Tourism calls it the Baroque Library and says it is "also known as the Joanina Library" after King John V, who authorised its construction.[3] The regional tourism board's English page calls it the Joanine Library.[8]
• Royal Palace is UC Tourism's name for the suite of ceremonial rooms inside the Palace of Schools: the Armory, the Great Hall of Acts and the Private Examination Room.[6] UC Tourism lists it as one of the Palace of Schools' three visitable spaces, alongside the library and the chapel.[1]
• Science Museum spaces (the Chemistry Laboratory, Academic Museum, Cabinet of Curiosities and Mineral Gallery) are part of most programmes, but UC Tourism lists them separately from the Palace of Schools' three spaces.[2][1]

Which programme includes what

UC Tourism's programme list, read on 9 October 2026, marks every programme valid from 1 January to 31 December 2026, and the ticketed programmes say "NO REFUNDS ACCEPTED".[2]

The guided tour lists the Baroque Library, the Royal Palace and Saint Michael's Chapel. UC Tourism gives its meeting point as the ticket kiosk in front of the Faculty of Medicine, says the Science Museum spaces are not part of the guided tour but can be entered with the ticket, and says the tour is reserved for non-professional clients.[2] Its guidelines add that a guided-tour ticket must be used on its scheduled date and time, except for the Scientific Circuit, whose spaces can be visited freely over two days.[1]

The "Science Museum + UC Exploratório" programme is the one to read carefully: its listing says in capitals that it "DOES NOT INCLUDE" the Palace of Schools.[2] XTOUR's reading is that a ticket bought for the science circuit alone will not get a visitor into the library or the Great Hall.

XTOUR does not restate the prices UC Tourism lists, because they change; check the programme page itself.

Rules UC Tourism publishes

The guidelines on UC Tourism's information page say tickets cannot be exchanged, are personal and not transferable, and must be shown on entry and kept until the end of the visit. They also say minors under 18 may not enter the visiting spaces without an adult.[1]

The university remains a working institution, and its guidelines say so: celebrations, religious, official and academic ceremonies run alongside the tourist circuit and "may compromise visits to certain areas or even lead to their temporary closure". The same page lists 2026 closing dates for holidays and academic festivities.[1] XTOUR does not know in advance which ceremonies will close which rooms.

On accessibility, UC Tourism says wheelchair access to the Joanina Library is restricted to the Noble Floor and asks wheelchair users or their escorts to contact a member of staff, and it describes the Royal Palace as not accessible to wheelchairs.[1] XTOUR has no further accessibility information.

The Joanina Library

UC Tourism says construction of the library was completed in 1728 and that it served as the university library from 1777 until the first half of the 20th century.[3] The regional tourism board dates the order to build it to 1717.[8]

UC Tourism says the building is divided into three floors. The Noble Floor consists of three halls connected by archways and decorated with gilded carving. The Middle Floor was, UC Tourism says, used to preserve old books before it joined the university's tourist route on 1 November 2010, and the lowest floor holds the academic prison, which UC Tourism says operated until 1834 and is of medieval origin.[5] The regional board's page describes the building as three storeys, two of them underground.[8]

Two working details from UC Tourism's library page explain how the room survives. Its exterior walls are 2.11 metres thick and its shelves are oak, chosen to keep paper-eating insects away; and two bat colonies have lived in the library for about two and a half centuries, which is why the tables are covered with leather at the end of each day. The books are still in use: the page says most are in the electronic catalogue and that an average of 750 works are requested each year.[5]

Where the official pages disagree

The descriptions do not all agree, and XTOUR does not choose between them:

• The order of the hall colours. UC Tourism describes gold on a black background in the first hall, red in the second and green in the third.[5] The regional tourism board gives green in the first room, red in the second and black in the last.[8] XTOUR's reading is that the two pages may be counting from opposite ends; neither says which end the visit enters.
• The size and age of the collection. UC Tourism gives "60 thousand books, dating from the 16th century to the 18th century" in its overview and again at the top of its library page, while further down the same library page it gives "nearly 60 000 volumes" printed "between the 15th and 18th centuries".[5][3] The regional board says the books were published between the 15th and 19th centuries.[8]
• The timetable. The regional board's page carries its own visiting hours for the library, the chapel and the Royal Palace, and they differ from those on UC Tourism's information page.[1][8] XTOUR treats the university's page as the operator's and does not reproduce either set of hours.

The Royal Palace and Saint Michael's Chapel

UC Tourism's history of the building runs back to a fortress for the city's governor at the end of the 10th century, under Islamic rule; it says the building became the residence of Afonso Henriques, the first king of Portugal, in 1131. Of its three rooms, the Great Hall of Acts was the old Throne Room and is lined with portraits of the Portuguese kings; UC Tourism says it became the university's main hall for its most important ceremonies. The Private Examination Room, where graduates once sat a private oral examination, has a ceiling of 1701 and portraits of 38 rectors.[6]

Saint Michael's Chapel was the palace's private oratory, and UC Tourism says it is still used for religious ceremonies and concerts. The university's two pages date it differently: the overview traces its origins to the 11th century, after the city was recaptured from the Moors in 1064, while the chapel's own page says it was "probably built in the 12th century". They also differ slightly on the organ, "some 2000 pipes, installed between 1733 and 1737" on one page and "dating back to 1737 and containing more than 2000 tubes" on the other. Both place its present architecture in the 16th century under King Manuel; the chapel's page describes it as the result of a restoration he ordered.[3][7]

The university and World Heritage

UC Tourism says the university was founded in 1290 by King D. Dinis and was "considered a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2013"; its page on the Botanical Garden, created in 1772 at the Marquis of Pombal's initiative, also says the garden has been a World Heritage Site since 2013.[3] Portugal's National Commission for UNESCO lists the property as the University of Coimbra, Alta and Sofia (Universidade de Coimbra - Alta e Sofia), inscribed in 2013 and extended in 2019;[4] its list of Portugal's World Heritage sites is in Portugal's World Heritage sites. XTOUR could not open UNESCO's own page for the property on 9 October 2026, so it does not state the inscription's boundaries here. In XTOUR's records the designation is not a place to visit: the Palace of Schools is.

What XTOUR does not know

XTOUR does not publish prices, opening hours, last-entry times, slot availability or visit durations; UC Tourism publishes all of these and changes them. It does not know how ceremonies will affect a given day, when the tower will reopen, or how the library's timed entry is enforced on arrival. It holds no travel times to Coimbra. For the rest of the country, see Portugal: regions and bases and Portugal on XTOUR.