The work, coordinated by academics João Gouveia Monteiro and Maria Leonor Cruz Pontes, looks at the Joanina Library, the Chapel of São Miguel and its Baroque organ, the Botanical Garden and the National Museum of Machado de Castro.

“Not being able to include all the places listed in a single book, we chose these five ones they are quite diversified and are of great heritage and tourist value in Coimbra, which, as a whole, have an incalculable value”, said historian João Gouveia Monteiro.

“There are six texts in all about these five dream places of heritage classified in 2013, which are celebrated in this book, which has a Portuguese and English version and is profusely illustrated from all places”, he added.

There are two articles about the Joanina Library – one about its construction, by Professor Fernando Taveira da Fonseca, “very innovative, which documentally proves that the library was paid for, not by the king, but by the university itself, which, during its construction, (1717-1728), allocated a third of his budget to construction and led the entire process”.

The book also features pieces by António Filipe Pimentel (second article on Joanina Library), Gabriel Pereira (Capela de São Miguel), Paulo Bernardino (baroque organ of Capela São Miguel), Ana Cristina Tavares dos Santos (Botanical Garden) and Maria de Lurdes Craveiro (Maxado de Castro Museum).

In the preface, João Gouveia Monteiro points out that the articles are not a “repetition” of what was already known about those pieces of equipment, but rather “a rigorous and up-to-date study on each of these "five jewels", done by specialists of indisputable competence and reputation”.

The launch of the Five Jewels will take place on Wednesday at 5 pm in the Chapel of São Miguel, in a session in which it will be possible to listen to some pieces of Iberian music from the late Renaissance and Baroque period composed for the organ, interpreted by the organist head of the UC, Paulo Bernardino.

“I think it is a very dignified way to start the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the classification of Coimbra – Alta and Sofia as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO”, underlined João Gouveia Monteiro.