The University of Coimbra General Library ''(Biblioteca Geral da Universidade de Coimbra)'' is the central

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

of the

University of Coimbra The University of Coimbra (UC; pt, Universidade de Coimbra, ) is a Public university, public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coi ...

, in

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 Metropolitan Area, Porto, and Bra ...

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 ...

. Even before 1537, the year when the university was definitively established in Coimbra, transferred for its last time from Lisbon, a library was already in operation in the city. It was called ''Livraria de Estudo'' (Study Library). Based on the inventories of 1513 and 1532, more than 120 manuscript volumes were stored at the library. After the university refounding of 1537, the ''Livraria de Estudo'' was reinstalled and opened for students and professors, 4 hours a day. The statutes of 1559 already determined 6 hours of functioning a day, and the statutes of 1571 and 1597 called it ''livraria pública para lentes, estudantes e quaisquer pessoas outras'' (public library for lecturers, students and everybody else). In 1705 the library was closed and about 20 years later a new library was established-–the Biblioteca Joanina (Joanina Library, named after King

João V Dom John V ( pt, João Francisco António José Bento Bernardo; 22 October 1689 – 31 July 1750), known as the Magnanimous (''o Magnânimo'') and the Portuguese Sun King (''o Rei-Sol Português''), was King of Portugal from 9 December 17 ...

). By the reform which occurred in 1901, the library was renamed ''Biblioteca Central da Universidade'' (Central Library of the university). The current designation of the library, ''Biblioteca Geral da Universidade de Coimbra'', came in 1924, and its current main building is from 1962. The library is divided in two buildings: *The Biblioteca Joanina (books before 1800) *The main centre ''Edifício Novo'' (the New Building, 1962) with over a million books ranging almost every possible field of study, 4 floors and over 7000 m2. The library is open every day from 9:00 to 22:45.

External links

University of Coimbra General Library

Coimbra University Presentation
University of Coimbra

Buildings and structures in Coimbra {{Portugal-stub