Sancho

In Coimbra there's a fascinating baroque university library, with shelves made of a sort of insect-repellent tropical wood and holes in the ceiling to let in insect-eating bats. They cover up the books at night to protect them from bat-droppings.

barlaventoexpert

Are you actually living & working in Coimbra?

Pulaski

I believe Sancho lives in Italy.

Sancho

No, unfortunately. I've just been there (to give a talk), and it was only for a short time.

There's also a university prison at Coimbra, just next to the library, but it's not all that interesting. At least I didn't think so. And this wasn't the building where I imagined George Buchanan (Scot, Latinist, one of the most learned men of his generation, tutor to Montaigne) might have been incarcerated before his trial for heresy. That had clearly been an earlier building, and in any case I suppose it was only meant for students who had infringed university laws.

Buchanan was sentenced to spend some months in a monastery, where he had to endure endless boring sermons by ignorant monks. I could find no-one in Coimbra who'd ever heard of him, but you may be luckier. I mention these things partly because your name sounds Scottish too.

callumalden

Brilliant, thanks kindly. I recall that we tried reading this site on a tiny phone screen at the border... with no shade in a new country... but got a bit lost. I will attempt to contact them. Thanks so much.