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Church · Coimbra, Centre of Portugal

Old Cathedral of Coimbra

Sé Velha de Coimbra

The Old Cathedral (Sé Velha) is a Romanesque cathedral church in Coimbra, founded in the reign of Afonso Henriques according to the Centre of Portugal tourism board, and still a working parish church.

Why go

The Sé Velha's own site says it is a church open to worship and to tourism, and that the Catholic parish community of São Cristóvão, of the Diocese of Coimbra, has been based in it since the early 19th century with the task of caring for it and keeping worship there. The Centre of Portugal tourism board describes it as founded in the reign of Afonso Henriques, with a fortress-like main door, a carved Renaissance altarpiece by Olivier de Gand and Jean d'Ypres in the main chapel, a Gothic cloister beside the church and the Renaissance Porta Especiosa by João de Ruão on an outer wall. This record is the Old Cathedral, not the New Cathedral (Sé Nova), a different church. No entry or ticket rule was found on the pages read.

Base yourself nearby

City

Coimbra

Coimbra is a city on the Mondego River in central Portugal and the seat of its municipality; the Centre of Portugal tourism board says it was once the capital of the Portuguese kingdom and that its university is a UNESCO World Heritage site. XTOUR maps the university's Paço das Escolas, the Old Cathedral, the Monastery of Santa Cruz, the Machado de Castro National Museum and the Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Velha in the city, and keeps Conímbriga and the Buçaco forest, which lie in other municipalities, apart from it.

Near Old Cathedral of Coimbra

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