Conímbriga

Conimbriga

Camino Portugués · Camino Portugués de la Costa

Distrito de CoímbraPortugal

Here Camino Portugués and Camino Portugués de la Costa converge. It is one of the points where the pilgrim shares the way with those arriving by another route.

The Roman city —⁠not the modern one⁠— whose original name travelled sixteen kilometres north after the Suebic destruction of the 5th century, giving rise to today's Coímbra. Conímbriga today preserves only the ruins: the place that lost its name but keeps its form.

A unique case in Iberian toponymy: a city whose name survived by migrating to another place, while its original settlement fell silent. After the Suebic destruction of 468, the episcopal seat and the population retreated to the nearby Aeminium, taking the name Conímbriga with them. The ancient site was never fully repopulated: today it is one of the best-preserved archaeological complexes in Portugal, with forum, baths, road and mosaics visible. The modern village that gives access to the ruins, Condeixa-a-Velha, bears a different name. Thus Conímbriga exists today in two places at once: as an archaeological ruin with its original name, and as a Portuguese capital with its name transformed into Coímbra.

Evolution of the name

  1. Conímbriga Latin (ciudad romana) 1st — 5th century
  2. (despoblado) 5th century en adelante

Reflections, to the letter

The archaeological enclosure opens daily at the foot of the Camino: the pilgrim who detours half an hour crosses the cardo maximus of a dead city before reaching, that same night, the living one that inherited its name. The Casa dos Repuxos preserves figurative mosaics that rank among the finest in the Western Empire.

Languages of origin

Origin status

confirmed

Glossary

Roman road
A stone-paved Roman highway, part of the imperial communications network (Via Aquitana, Via Augusta, Iter ab Asturica); many such roads became medieval routes and, later, stretches of the Camino de Santiago.

Sources

  • Almeida, F. de — Ruínas de Conimbriga (Coímbra: Junta de Província da Beira Litoral, 1956)
  • Alarcão, J. — Coimbra: a montagem do cenário urbano (Coímbra: Imprensa da Universidade, 2008)

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Camino Portugués

  1. ··· toward Santiago
  2. Albergaria-a-Velha
  3. Águeda
  4. Anadia
  5. Mealhada
  6. Coímbra
  7. Condeixa-a-Nova
  8. Conímbriga
  9. Rabaçal
  10. Ansião
  11. Alvaiázere
  12. Tomar
  13. Atalaia
  14. Azinhaga
  15. ··· toward the start