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The New Cathedral of Coimbra (Portuguese: Sé Nova de Coimbra) or the Cathedral of the Holy name of Jesus is the current bishopric seat of the city of
Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of . The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto, and Braga, it is the largest cit ...
, in
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
. The Cathedral is located near the historical
University of Coimbra The University of Coimbra (UC; pt, Universidade de Coimbra, ) is a public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coimbra in 1537. The u ...
in the upper part of the town (''Alta de Coimbra'').


History

The New Cathedral was originally the church of the
Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
Formation house of Coimbra, established in the city in 1543. In 1759, the
Jesuit Order , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
was banned from Portugal by the
Marquis of Pombal Count of Oeiras () was a Portuguese title of nobility created by a royal decree, dated July 15, 1759, by King Joseph I of Portugal, and granted to Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, head of the Portuguese government. Later, through another roy ...
, Prime Minister of King José I. In 1772, the bishopric seat was transferred from the old Romanesque Cathedral of the city (now called the
Old Cathedral of Coimbra The Old Cathedral of Coimbra ( pt, Sé Velha de Coimbra) is a Romanesque Roman Catholic building in Portugal. Construction of the Sé Velha began some time after the Battle of Ourique (1139), when Prince Afonso Henriques declared himself King ...
) to the vacant, spacious and more modern Jesuit church. The church architecture was influential in the Portuguese colonial world. The façade of the former Jesuit church of Salvador, in colonial Brazil (now the
Cathedral of Salvador The Cathedral Basilica of Salvador (''Catedral Basílica de Salvador''), officially dedicated to the Transfiguration of Christ and named ''Primatial Cathedral Basilica of the Transfiguration of the Lord'' is the seat of the Archbishop of the city ...
), built in the 17th century, seems inspired by the Jesuit church of Coimbra.


Description

The niches of the façade of the New Cathedral carry statues of four Jesuit saints. The
Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
decoration of the upper part of the façade, finished in the beginning of the 18th century, contrasts with the lower part, which follows a rigid
Mannerist Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Ita ...
style. The church has two bell towers located just behind the main façade and a dome over the crossing. The interior, covered with barrel vaulting, has one
nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
with several lateral chapels and a
transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building wi ...
with a dome and
cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, fro ...
. Both transept arms and the main chapel of the
apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...
are decorated with huge, magnificent gilt wood altarpieces built between the 17th and 18th centuries which are fine examples of the so-called "national" Portuguese altarpiece style. The lateral chapels of the nave have altarpieces in Mannerist and Baroque styles. The 17th-century choir stalls of the main chapel were brought from the Old Cathedral, as was the intricate stone baptismal font, carved by Pero and Felipe Henriques in late
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
-
Manueline The Manueline ( pt, estilo manuelino, ), occasionally known as Portuguese late Gothic, is the sumptuous, composite Portuguese architectural style originating in the 16th century, during the Portuguese Renaissance and Age of Discoveries. Manuel ...
style in the beginning of the 16th century.


See also

*
List of Jesuit sites This list includes past and present buildings, facilities and institutions associated with the Society of Jesus. In each country, sites are listed in chronological order of start of Jesuit association. Nearly all these sites have bee ...


References

*Portuguese Institute for Architectural Heritag

*General Bureau for National Buildings and Monuments (Portugal


External links


Page about the Sé Nova
{{R-C cathedrals in Portugal Roman Catholic cathedrals in Portugal, Coimbra New Roman Catholic churches in Coimbra Baroque church buildings in Portugal Jesuit churches in Portugal Tourist attractions in Coimbra National monuments in Coimbra District Churches in Coimbra District