Unesco World Heritage
The Rua da Sofia street, like the University of Coimbra and Alta of the city, was classified in 2013 as a Unesco World Heritage Site. Built in 1535, with an unusual width and regularity, at the time it was considered one of the largest streets in Europe. This wide and straight street that starts at “Ladeira de Santa Justa” and ends at ” Praça 8 de Maio”, presents many characteristics of Renaissance time. Forming the street, several colleges were built by several religious orders. Nowadays only seven colleges remain and their respective Churches: the College of “São Tomás de Aquino”, the College of “S. Pedro dos Terceiros”, the College of “Graça”, the College of “Nossa Sra. do Carmo”, the College of “Espírito Santo”, the College of “São Boaventura” and the College of “São Agostinho”. The Sofia Street was always linked to the University and its name (“Sophia”) is the greek word for knowledge and science.Worth of mention are also the former College of Arts and the “Mosteiro de Santa Cruz”. From the 1800’s, shops began to emerge in this street. The Sofia Street is important for its beauty and rich history not only for the “academic functionality and modernity represented by the centralization of the colleges”, but also for the set of urban solutions and architectural innovations that it has implied since inception.
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