New Praça Europa opens beside Coimbra-B with Metro Mondego and 'Les Palissades'

Praça Europa inaugurated beside Coimbra-B as a new mobility hub

The new Praça Europa, next to Coimbra-B Station, was opened this Saturday as part of the Coimbra City and Queen Saint Isabel Festivities. Delivered under the Mondego Mobility System works, the square is designed to operate as an interchange between rail services and the Metro Mondego.

Metro Mondego Board Chair Leonel Serra said the link between Coimbra-B and Praça da República is expected to start operating between late August and early September. He also stated that extending the line to the University of Coimbra hospitals should be completed during the first quarter of 2027.

Built on the site of a former taxi rank and parking area, the new Praça Europa replaces that space with a public setting focused on welcoming passengers and supporting day-to-day movement around the city. Leonel Serra described it as “a space that honours the past and presents Coimbra as a cultured, modern and organised city”.

'Les Palissades' brings public art and a Portugal–Belgium link to Praça Europa

The opening also featured the installation of “Les Palissades”, by Belgian artist Paul de Gobert. Made up of a series of painted wooden palisades, the work depicts historical and anonymous figures from the city of Brussels.

First shown in Brussels around 50 years ago, the piece underwent a new conservation and restoration process in preparation for its installation in Coimbra, before being permanently incorporated into Praça Europa.

Coimbra City Council councillor Margarida Mendes Silva stressed that the exhibition represents “the bonds of friendship, culture and cooperation” between Portugal and Belgium. She added that Praça Europa aims to establish itself as a meeting point between cultures and as a way of connecting the city to the rest of the European continent, through rail, the metrobus and future inter-regional rail links.

Paul de Gobert explained that “Les Palissades” emerged from observing two streets in Brussels and brings together well-known and unknown characters, seeking to create a dialogue between art and public space. “Public art has always interested me because there is a direct dialogue between what we do and what we receive,” he said at the inauguration, when he symbolically presented the work to the city of Coimbra.

Metrobus: studies forecast network expansion

Further metrobus expansion remains under review. According to Metro Mondego Board Chair Leonel Serra, planned assessments include connections to Condeixa, Cantanhede and Mealhada, as well as a new urban axis between Rua Fernando Namora, the Hospitals and Olivais. The Government has also authorised a study into a link to Polo II of the University of Coimbra, reinforcing the focus on improving mobility and extending coverage across Coimbra’s urban network.