"Turned Into One"-Part I: An Arts District

The cover picture features a statue that dominates the square in front of the Joanina Library at the University of Coimbra. As one would naturally presume, the statue is of King John - it's just that the King's number is wrong! He isn't John the V who ordered the construction of the library subsequently named after him but rather his predecessor John the III who had essentially founded a University in Coimbra by transferring it from Lisbon in 1537.

To better understand the role medieval universities played in their respective societies, one should initially look no further than the word itself. Combined of two Latin parts -"uni"/one, and "vertere"/turn, "University" literally means "turned into one". In other words, it signifies a tight-knit group of people sharing common interests and pursuing common goals. In Middle Ages, such groups were known as "guilds" - and medieval guilds were mostly organized by professional craftsmen (such as, for instance, bakers or weavers) or service providers (such as physicians, healers or apothecaries). Those professionals would join forces to "maintain standards, regulate competition and pool resources", and they usually lived and worked quite close to each other - in the same neighbourhood or even on the same street. It's for the latter reason that historians refer to Universities as "learners guilds". However, there was an important distinction: while regular guilds were fully integrated into their respective countries' legal system, Universities were exempt from it. Completely autonomous, they had their own laws, their own courts and even their own prisons (as illustrated by the basement floor of the Joanina library). Important as it was, the legal autonomy was but a subset of the spiritual independence that set academic communities completely apart from the rest of their fellow citizens - both metaphorically and quite literally.  

As implied by the picture, the University of Coimbra is located on a hill above the town. It's only an about 15-minute walk on modern roads but medieval ones were likely less obliging. Counterintuitively, the students were still mingling with the townsfolk as the former needed supplies and, sometimes, accommodation. However, it's safe to presume that students and staff didn't have too many visitors - and, as long as they stayed on campus, they were left to their academic (and other) pursuits.

Joanina Library is by far the most famous part of the university complex, and it proves its status by, so-to-say, shaping one's schedules. To visit the library, one needs to buy a separate ticket, and such a ticket comes with a time slot. With a stroke of luck, that time slot might be just 10-15 minutes away but an hour+ wait is much more common because of the library's popularity. The St. Michel's Chapel located in the same building, and the Royal Palace across the square help to turn lemons of downtime into lemonade of art appreciation. 

A variety of architectural styles

richness of patterns

and splendor of decorations,

the Palace/Library Square leaves a feel of an arts district typical of any big city steeped in cultural tradition - or an arts garden adjacent to a Temple of Science.