PlaceCoimbra, Portugal
Place
Coimbra, Portugal
Location
Praca Velha or Praca do Comercio
Local time of recording
12.00 a.m.
Camera person
Paulo Jose Osorio Rupino da Cunha
Other participating people
Antonio Dias Figueiredo
Emanuel Gustavo Bebiano de Castro Martins
The unknown lady
Description of the recording place
This shot has been made in Coimbra. Several centuries of history witness the
events, changes and life in this town
The history of Portugal itself as a nation is closely tied to the history of
Coimbra. In every place around town traces of the past coexist with modern
living - old windows, alleys and monuments all evoke that 800 year old realation.
The exponent of this close connection lies at the top of the hill where Coimbra is
placed - there you can find the first Portuguese University, and one of the
first in Europe. A great number of leading personalities in the Portuguese
Nation, throughout time have been students or teachers in this University. Even
today, the University of Coimbra continues to exercise a strong influence and
fascination in young applicants, due to it's strong reputation and intense
cultural and academic traditions which also characterize in an enduring from the
way of life in Coimbra
Description of the location
The chosen location is called Praca Velha (which stands for old square) also
named Place do Comercio (which stands for commerce square). It's located in the
downtown. It's a tradition rich place, much to the style of what has been
described before. There you'll find two churches at the opposite side of the
square and some nice places outdoors where you can take a drink while you enjoy
the sun, maybe during a break in your casual window. Shopping around the several
stores that you can also find in this place. If you are in the mood, you can also
feed the many pigeons that use to fly all around Praca Velha
What is special to the choosen location
There where two strong motifs for choosing this location. The above description
guides some hints to one of them. The other had to do with the need for movement
and action in a place that was facing South. It may seem incredible, but in spite
of having lots of nice places in Coimbra, almost none of them filled all the
required conditions for the shot.Specially, to face South!
What does the recording show
The recording shows a typical day in Praca Velha - people moving from one place
to another, shopping, talking, having a coffee... You can see kids playing,
pideons flying, etc. The camera was sitting next to one of the churches. The
other can be seen on the other end of the square
What can be heard
You can hear a mix of the sounds made by all of the described events plus the
sounds comming from some alleys that link to this place.
Echo of people's steps, salesmen talking, etc. It's a very distinctive sound
What happend at your location on the 9th of September
As I said, September 9 was a very typical day in this location. No special events
took place, except maybe for the WorldVideo recording that has drawn some
attention of people that read about it in the press and came to ask more before
the recording started
What happend in your country on the 9th of September
No special events took place in Portugal on September 9