The University of Évora (''Universidade de Évora'') is a

public university A public university or public college is a university or college that is in state ownership, owned by the state or receives significant government spending, public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private unive ...

Évora Évora ( , ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. It has 53,591 inhabitants (2021), in an area of 1307.08 km2. It is the historic capital of the Alentejo and serves as the seat of the Évora District. Due to its well-preserved old ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. It is the second oldest university in the country, established in 1559 by the cardinal Henry, and receiving University status in April of the same year from

Pope Paul IV Pope Paul IV, born Gian Pietro Carafa, C.R. ( la, Paulus IV; it, Paolo IV; 28 June 1476 – 18 August 1559) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 23 May 1555 to his death in August 1559. While serving as pa ...

, as documented in his ''Cum a nobis'' papal bull. Running under the aegis of the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

(also known as Jesuits) meant that the university was a target of the

Marquis of Pombal Count of Oeiras () was a Portuguese title of nobility created by a royal decree, dated July 15, 1759, by King Joseph I of Portugal, and granted to Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, head of the Portuguese government. Later, through another roy ...

's Jesuit oppression, being closed down permanently in 1779 and its masters either incarcerated or exiled. It was reopened nearly two hundred years later in 1973 as ''Instituto Universitário de Évora'' (University Institute of Évora) by decree of the Minister of Education, José Veiga Simão, in the site of the older university, as part of a set of education policies during the early 1970s that were attempting to reshape Portuguese higher education. Six years later, in 1979, the name was changed to ''Universidade de Évora''.

History

The University of Évora, the second oldest in Portugal, was founded in the 16th century by the Archbishop of Évora Cardinal Infante Dom Henrique, future king of Portugal, and the

. Its administrative control was granted to the newly formed

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

. This measure could be seen as part of Henry's policies to attract Jesuits to the kingdom. The Jesuit

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

in Évora operated between 1559 and 1759, when it was surrounded by cavalry troops on February 8 of 1759, as a consequence of the Jesuit banishment promoted by the Minister of the Kingdom

The ''Colégio do Espírito Santo'' became famed as a centre of learning and rivalled the

University of Coimbra The University of Coimbra (UC; pt, Universidade de Coimbra, ) is a public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coimbra in 1537. The u ...

. Among its eminent theologians and philosophers were

Luis de Molina Luis de Molina (29 September 1535 – 12 October 1600) was a Spanish Jesuit Catholic priest, priest and Scholasticism, scholastic, a staunch defender of free will in the controversy over human liberty and God's grace. His theology is known ...

(1535-1600), Pedro de Fonseca (1528-1599), St. Francisco de Borja, St. João de Brito, Manuel Álvares. Several prelates of the

Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the ...

were trained at this university: D.

Afonso Mendes Father Afonso Mendes (18 June 1579 – 21 June 1659), was a Portuguese Jesuit theologian, and Patriarch of Ethiopia from 1622 to 1634. While E. A. Wallis Budge has expressed the commonly accepted opinion of this man, as being "rigid, uncompromis ...

, Patriarch of Abyssinia, and D. Pedro Martins, first bishop of Japan. The classrooms are decorated with appropriate ''

azulejo ''Azulejo'' (, ; from the Arabic ''al- zillīj'', ) is a form of Spanish and Portuguese painted tin-glazed ceramic tilework. ''Azulejos'' are found on the interior and exterior of churches, palaces, ordinary houses, schools, and nowadays, r ...

s'' (ceramic tiles) such as "

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

teaching his followers" and "

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...

teaching

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

". The University of Évora resumed work in 1973 as a state-run university. The diplomas are granted in the 18th century Baroque chapel (''Sala dos Actos'') (restored in 1973), that dominates the Tuscan-arched Renaissance

cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a ...

References

External links

University of Évora

University of Evora A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

Educational institutions established in 1973 Jesuit universities and colleges 1559 establishments in Portugal Baroque architecture in Portugal 1973 establishments in Portugal Buildings and structures in Alentejo Region Educational institutions established in the 1550s 1779 disestablishments in Portugal Educational institutions disestablished in the 1770s National monuments in Évora District {{Portugal-university-stub

History

See also

References

External links