Faculdade de Letras

The University of Coimbra is very famous for its tradition and history. It is the biggest university in Portugal and it has more than 20 thousand students.

There are many well known courses teached there, but one of the most well known colleges is Faculdade de Letras. There are 13 graduation courses taught there, and many other PhD and postgraduate courses too.

Over 3 thousand people study there, and 20% of them are foreign students, being one of the most international school in the university.

The areas studies are: Archeology, Art Studies, Art History, Classic studies, European studies, Geography, History, Information ciences, Journalism and communication, Modern Languages, Portuguese and Tourism.

Many of this areas are very traditional and are lessoned in Coimbra for hundreds of years, such as phylosophy. The Faculdade de Letras, though, doesn't have as many years.

History

The school of letters, also known as FLUC, by the students, inicials for (Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra, or University of Coimbra School of Letters), is rather recent comparing to the university on a whole. It was inaugurated in 1911, but the building where it is nowadays was only built in 1951.

Important figures such as the portuguese poets and writers: Paulo Quintela, Maria Helena da Rocha Pereira and Eduardo Lourenço studied there.

But even before that the graduated courses that are part of FLUC existed in other colleges in Coimbra, following its centenary tradition.

Architecture

Besides the history, the Faculdade de Letras building is one of the most beautiful in the University of Coimbra. It is a great squared buiding, with a lettering saying "Faculdade de Letras" on top.

In front of it you can see four statues representing Eloquence, Philosphy, History and Poetry. The facade was reformed during the dictatorship of Salazar in Portugal, but the statues remained.

Inside the building you can find beautiful paintings on the main hall, representing the classic antiquity on one side and paying tribute to portuguese literature on the other. The building has 7 floors, with 6 auditoriums and dozens of classes, libraries, teachers offices and study rooms.

FLUC has also some activities going on in other beautiful buildings in the university, such as Colégio de São Jerônimo, Palácio das Sub-Ripas and Casa das Caldeiras where journalism, archeology and art history classes take place, respectively.

Location

The main building of FLUC is located in the first and most important campus of the university, just beside the old royal palace, where Law school and the historic part of the university is.

It is also in front of the most important library of the university - Biblioteca Geral. It was built to replace Biblioteca Joanina, the oldest one that keeps only historic and old books and is mostly exclusive for visitations nowadays.

Visitations

Both Faculdade de Letras and Biblioteca Geral are not touristic attractions in Coimbra. They are the actual places where students take classes. This is why it is nice to visit it.

In FLUC you can see the students in their routines - wearing their traditional cape and gown, coming in and out of classes, chatting with friends - a real universtiy life.

You can get inside the buildings as you wish, but don't get inside the classes or disturb the students taking pictures - remember this is their school, not a zoo!

My experience

I studied for a whole semester in FLUC as an exchange student (I am from Brazil). I took journalism and european studies classes and it was a great experience.

At first I felt like an outsider, in this old and traditional university, in such a great building and with such history. But as time went by it became my world.

I loved my time in Coimbra and I hope you do too, being a student, a resident or even a tourist.