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Initially a simple viewpoint, known as Pedra dos Ventos [Stone of the Winds], it was only in the 16th century that it became known for its current designation. Among the vegetation, small lakes and waterfalls, there are plaques with poems that evoke the student times of various elements of the academy, highlighting O Retiro dos Poetas and A Sala dos Cursos, as well as the busts of the writer Eça de Queirós, the poet António Nobre, and the statue of the pedagogue João de Deus.
Statue of João De Deus
The statue, by Jorge Coelho, was promoted by the João de Deus Kindergarten Association, inaugurated on 11 May 1996, on the commemoration of the first centenary of the death of the poet and pedagogue. The statue was made by Fundição D’Arte of Bernardino Leite Successores Lda.
João de Deus, a renowned lyric poet of his time, was the forerunner of a method of teaching how to read, based on Cartilha Maternal, a manual written by him, which received great popular acceptance. During his academic career, with various interruptions and grade retentions due to him skipping classes, he was involved in the bohemian life of Coimbra, revealing his lyrical talents from early years.
Monument to Eça de Queiroz
Eça de Queirós, one of the most important names in Portuguese literature, was a socially committed and active man. Apart from being a writer and essayist, he was also a journalist and held political positions abroad. He was noted for the originality and richness of his style and language, namely by the descriptive realism and social criticism in his novels.
The monument, an initiative of the Municipality of Coimbra, was commissioned to the sculptor Francisco Simões, and inaugurated, on 8 September 2000, when the International Congress of Queirosian Studies was held in Coimbra, to mark the centenary of his death.
Bust of António Nobre
António Nobre, the Portuguese poet whose work is part of the ultra-romantic, symbolic, decadent and nostalgic currents of the Portuguese late 19th century generation.
The monument, inaugurated on 30 October 1939, was an initiative of the Municipality of Coimbra. The bust, by Tomás Costa, was stolen in 1942, later reappearing and returned to its pedestal. The current bust is a replica of the existing one at Cordoaria’s Garden, in Oporto.