Designation
General Library
Current occupation
Library
Ownership
University of Coimbra
Art-historical characterisation
The General Library of the University of Coimbra, designed by José Alberto Pessoa, follows the aesthetics of the architectural complex for which it was designed. With its monumental, classicist language and marked austerity and rigidity, it almost completely mirrors the Faculty of Arts and Humanities.
The uniformity, conferred by the use of multiple pilasters and the repetitive arrangement of the windows, which was more pronounced on the main façade, was attenuated by the placement of two sculptural groups by António Duarte at the ends of the façade, installed in 1951.
Six allegorical bas-reliefs by the artist Angélico were placed between these groups and the main entrance, which has three large doors. The then director of the library was the one who approved the iconographic programme for this ensemble, which was supposed to represent the ‘fundamental disciplines that have traditionally been considered the expressions of all knowledge’. They thus represent Biology, Physics, Maths, Grammar, Logic and Ethics.
Inside the reading room stands a polychrome faience panel, made in 1955 by Jorge Barradas, evoking allegories closely linked to the university institution and some of the protagonists of Coimbra's history.
The building retains the functions for which it was designed.
