Draft:Celas

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Cruz de Celas is a sophisticated neighbourhood in central Coimbra, Portugal, known for its high concentration of medical ^[1], educational and scientific facilities, ^[2]. .

Although its boundaries are not officially defined, Celas is not an administrative civil parish (freguesia). Most of the neighbourhood lies within the Santo António dos Olivais parish. In general, the area known as Celas is bounded by the Jardim da Sereia to the south, Conchada to the west, the present-day Coimbra Pediatric Hospital to the north, and Olivais to the east. The centre of the neighbourhood is known as the Largo da Cruz de Celas.

Celas is one of the most important urban areas of Coimbra and serves as a major centre for the wider Centro Region of Portugal. It contains several hospitals, schools, faculties of the University of Coimbra, higher education institutions, banks, and numerous public services and urban facilities.

The neighbourhood is also home to the Monastery of Celas (Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Celas), a former Cistercian convent founded in the early 13th century. The monastery was established around 1221 by the Infanta Sancha of Portugal, daughter of Sancho I of Portugal and granddaughter of Afonso I of Portugal, on an estate known as Vimaranes de Coimbra.

Originally, the monastery was relatively small and housed twelve nuns. According to tradition, each nun lived in an individual room or cella, from which the monastery, and subsequently the surrounding area, is said to have derived its name.

Local tradition also maintains that, because the monastery had been founded under royal patronage, it included a secret underground passage intended to provide a means of escape in the event of a siege or military attack. According to local accounts, the passage was still partially visible in the 1990s, extending from the monastery beneath the road towards the vicinity of the Martim de Freitas School. This tradition has not been conclusively verified by archaeological evidence.

• Monastery of Celas

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d-life/jealousy/ |titulo=Celas: sophistication, history and modernity |publicado=|acessodata=2026-06-26 |lingua=en}}</ref>