Andalucía 2024 - Baeza

I lamented only spending a day in this World Heritage-listed town.  It’s an impressive approach, as you ascend from the plains up towards Baeza’s elevated perch.  

Wandering the ancient narrow streets, you get up close to superb Christian Renaissance architecture.  Around the 15th/16th century, a few wealthy but warring families (rich from grain growing, cloth and leather production), spent a small fortune beautifying their towns (Baeza and Ubeza).  The great Spanish architect Andres de Vandelvira designed the 16th-century Renaissance facade and the three-nave interior of the Catedral de Baeza. 

My images include the Catedral de Baeza, Palacio de Jabalquinto, Iglesia de Santa Cruz (rare example of Romanesque architecture in Andalucía), Paseo de la Constitution,  , Seminario  de San Felipe Neri, Antigua Universidad, Plaza del Populo,  the lovely Fuente de Los Leones and finally the bull ring.  I marveled at the superbly decorative wrought iron work featuring on so many buildings, not just in Baeza but every town I visited.

Baeza’s magnificent Paseo de la Constitution is a huge rectangular square in the middle of town.  It still is the place where  the locals gather and gossip.  This is where the old market square was located and where the guilds came to sell their goods and offer their services. As a result , some of the most representative buildings of the city were erected in its vicinity.  The circular bandstand, built in 1951 by the municipal architect Ambrosio del Valle, is gorgeous.