Baños Castle

Published on 17/11/2014

Baños de la Encina (Sierra Morena)

Monuments, Castles and Fortresses

The castle of Baños de la Encina, or Burgalimar castle, is one of the most spectacular military fortresses not just in Spain but in all of Europe.
It was the caliph al-Hakam II who ordered it built; the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid keeps a stone, or inaugural plaque, from August 968, the date of its inauguration.
This oval castle had fifteen towers, one of which was replaced by the present keep in Christian times.
After the first Christian conquest, by Alfonso VII in 1147, the castle changed hands between Arabs and Christians many times, remaining in Christian hands for good from 1225.
This fortress, the best-preserved fortified complex from the time of the Caliphate of Córdoba, is one of the emblems of this beautiful Jaén town and of the whole province.

More about this place…

The castle of Baños de la Encina is one of the most spectacular and best-preserved fortresses in our country. Built on the orders of the caliph al-Hakam II, the exact date of its inauguration is known from a stone bearing it, which dates it to 968. Oval in outline, it has 14 towers, barely projecting from its wall, plus a keep that was built on the fifteenth tower in Christian times. Without doubt, a must-see.