Mosteiro de Santa Clara-a-Velha

On the left bank of the Mondego, in Coimbra, the roofless church and monumental cloister of Santa Clara-a-Velha stand as one of Portugal’s most atmospheric ruins — a Gothic monastery drowned by the river, abandoned by its nuns, and rescued at last by archaeology.

A monastery at war with a river

Founded at the end of the 13th century, the monastery was refounded from 1314 by Queen Isabel of Aragon, and its church and cloister grew into the largest Gothic cloister known in Portugal. But the Mondego flooded it again and again, until the community gave up in 1677 and moved to a new convent on the hill. The old walls silted over; excavations from 1991 revealed the church, the cloister and the everyday world of the Clarist nuns. It reopened in 2009 with an interpretation centre. Nearby stand the beloved library of Coimbra’s Joanina Library and the student festivities of the Queima das Fitas.

What to see

• The church ruins, with their stone vaulting and rose windows
• The great Gothic cloister, the largest in Portugal
• The story of Pedro and Inês, linked to the site
• The finds of the excavations in the interpretation centre
• The riverside walk along the Mondego

Practical information

The monastery is a National Monument and lies 15 minutes on foot from Coimbra’s old town. It opens daily except Mondays, with reduced hours in winter; tickets are modest and the guided interpretation is worthwhile.

Image credit: Mosteiro de Santa Clara-a-Velha by Alvesgaspar — CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.