Velha Universidade is Coimbra's most notable historic building. It was founded in 1290 and was Portugal's only university until the beginning of the last century. It occupies one end of a wide square, Patio das Escolas, around which are a series of more modern faculty buildings. The entrance is through the elaborate 17th Porta Ferrea which opens out into a courtyard lined with beautiful whitewashed buildings with the characteristic red tiled roofs that is dominated by the Baroque clock tower nicknamed A Cabra, the goat.
