Universty Arizona

General Description of the University

The University of Coimbra, the oldest in Portugal and one of the oldest in the world, dates from 1290, just one century after the founding of the Portuguese nation. 

It was in that year, on the 1st of March, that King Dinis signed the document Scientiae thesaurus mirabilis that created the University and requested the confirmation by the Pope. On the 9th of August, Pope Nicholas IV issued the bull De statu regni Portugaliae recognising the General Studies. 

Until 1537, the year in which it was finally established in Coimbra, the University moved between Lisbon and Coimbra. The first statutes of the University were received in this last city, in 1309, under the name Charta magna privilegiorium. 

During the reign of King José I, who had a keen interest in the natural and the exact sciences, the University of Coimbra underwent profound changes with the so-called Pombaline Statutes of 1772 (from the name of the then prime minister, the Marq