Any of the itineraries the tourist can make in Baeza will show him its noble lineage, which was won with its knights´ prestige in the Reconquest of Spain, when the Christian kings retook the country from the Muslims.
Whitewashed facades or made of stone invite people to have a calm walk, looking for the steps of San Juan de Ávila, San Juan de la Cruz, or the poet Antonio Machado next to the walls of Baeza, which discover us an impressive landscape.

Cathedral´s area
Those slow steps, around the evocarion of the Muslim town, flow into the splendour of Santa María Square. In the centre of it there is the Fountain of Santa María, which is some kind of triunfal arch which rises on four pilasters, opposite the Cathedral. It has been transformed several times, even the most important transformation was made in the 16th century, so it offers a Renaissence aspect.
The western front contains the oldest elements of the building in the Puerta de La Luna, of Arab-Gothic style (13th century) and a great gothic rose window of the 14th century. The Puerta del Perdón, a gothic door of the 15th century is in the southern wall. The semicircular low vauls over its three aisles in the inside are from the 16th century. Other details to notice are the great baroque retable, Bartolome´s beautiful grille, the Monstrance chiselled in silver, a jewel of the baroque art. In the small cloister are four mudejar chapels decorated with arabic characters.

Santa Cruz Square
Although Baeza is a city with a basically Renaissence style, there is a range of other architectural styles. For instance, the Church of Santa Cruz, of a late of Progothic Romanesque style, built after the Reconquest in 1227, which preserves almost completely its structure. Some interesting pictures from the 15th and 16th centuries can be found. The pictures which are inside the church are very interesting.
In front of the Church of Santa Cruz, the Palacio de Jabalquinto is a beautiful sign of the civil architecture of the flamboyant gothic style. Juan Alfonso de Benavides, a relative of King Fernando the Catholic, ordered to build it. Its front shows the court fashion of its flamboyant gothic style full of decorative elements. There is a simple renaissence style count-yard with marble columns and inside heavily decorated stairs completely Baroque in it self. Next to the Palacio de Jabalquinto there is the old University, where Antonio Machado worked as a teacher.

Los Leones Square
Entering Baeza from Jaén, there is an interesting collection of monuments which form the Plaza of Los Leones, a square surrounded by the buildings of The Antigua Carnicería (16th century), the Audiencia Civil y Escribanías Públicas, also called Casa del Pópulo, which is a beutiful Plateresque building, now the Tourism Information Office; the Arco de Villalar, an arch in memory of the victory of the Empire against the Communities of Castille; and the Fuente de los Leones, a fountain which colud have been brought from the Roman town of Cantulo, which the sculpture of a woman who seems to be the iberian princess Imilce, Hannibal´s wife.

Other interesting monuments
Buildings like The Puerta de Úbeda and the Torre de los Aliatares are two other remains of the moslem Baeza, among stone streets and white houses. In Cardenal Benavides street is the Townhall, old gaol and Court oj Justice. This palace was declared a national protected monument because it is one of the most original and valuable example of the andalusian plateresque style.Very near, the great ruins of San Francisco are considered a model of the andalusian renaissence.
Walking in Baeza is discovering its endless collection of munoments in every step: San Pablo, San Ignacio, El Salvador -mudejar gothic style-, San Andrés, the convent of La Magdalena, its marvellous palaces, its aristocratic houses… all of it surrounded by the perfect environment of its quiet and dark streets, with its dominant colour of golden stones whichtell about history and the attractive legends of its ancient and noble city.

SOME INTERESTING IMAGES OF THE MOST POPULAR MONUMENTS YOU CAN SEE IN BAEZA