Art and Architecture

Giving shape to the artistic formulas of the official models adopted for the University City of Coimbra, the Faculty of Letters presents a modernist architecture based on a strong and rigorous classicism.

The main façade of the building is preceded by a sculptural group by Barata Feyo, composed of statues of the classical authors Sappho, Thucydides, Aristotle and Demosthenes.

On the five doors to the building, there are thirty bas-reliefs in bronze alluding to the works of Homer, Gil Vicente, Camões, Antero de Quental, Florbela Espanca, Cesário Verde, Eugénio de Castro, António Nobre and Fernando Pessoa. They were made under the supervision of Barata Feyo.

Inside, besides other sculptural groups by Numídico Bessone and a number of tapestries, the two huge frescos in the atrium of the faculty should be highlighted. On the left wall there is an allegorical representation of Classical Antiquity, made by the painter Joaquim Rebocho, and on the right side the personification of the exaltation of the Portuguese genius, made by Severo Portela Júnior.

Proposed Intervention

The building of the Faculty of Letters will keep its present functions. The goal of the present proposal is to reorganise spaces due to the departmentalisation of this Faculty, and to rehabilitate the building and its infrastructures.

All the spurious elements that mar the typological integrity of the building are to be suppressed, particularly the spaces occupied in the garret in the west and north wings, at the level of floor 3A, and the latter is to be reserved exclusively for technical structures. The obstacles to horizontal circulation and the improper occupation of formerly open areas and ventilation spaces are also to be eliminated.

Technical Document PDF