Évora - University

(Local Name: Universidade) On the other side of the street from the Paço dos Condes de Basto is the extensive University complex. The Universidade, in Italian Renaissance style, was founded in 1551 as a Jesuit college, raised to the status of a university in 1558 and closed in 1759, after the dissolution of the Jesuit order in Portugal. After Évora acquired its university status again in 1979 lecture rooms were reinstated around the cloister, many of them embellished with azulejos and marble. The university church (Nossa Senhora da Conceiçao) was consecrated in 1574, and also boasts marble and talha in its single nave interior.