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Baeza

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Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda and Baeza*
UNESCO World Heritage Site

State Party	Spain
Type	Cultural
Criteria	ii, iv
Reference	522
Region†	Europe and North America
Inscription History
Inscription	2003 (27th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. † Region as classified by UNESCO.

Baeza is a town of approximately 15,000 in Andalusia, Spain, in the province of Jaén, perched on a cliff in the Loma de Baeza, a mountain range between the river Guadalquivir on the south and its tributary the Guadalimar on the north. The town has existed since Roman times, when it was called Beatia, but it is chiefly known today as having many of the best-preserved examples of Italian Renaissance architecture in Spain. UNESCO added Baeza and Ubeda to the World Heritage Sites list in 2003.

Santa Maria cathedral façade, designed by Andrés de Vandelvira.

Row of Renaissance palaces.

In the Middle Ages Baeza was a flourishing Moorish city, said to contain 50,000 inhabitants, but it fell to the forces of Ferdinand III of Castile in 1227. The Cordova and Úbeda gates, and the arch of Baeza, are among the remains of its Moorish fortifications.

In the 16th century, Baeza and nearby Úbeda grew rich from the production of textiles, and local nobles hired important architects, such as Andrés de Vandelvira, to design new palaces, churches and public squares in the fashionable Italian style. The economy collapsed in the 17th century, which had the fortunate side effect of preserving Baeza's Renaissance architectural legacy, because few newer structures were built. Baeza appears much more Italian than Spanish, with an unusual sense of lightness, order, and proportion.

Baeza's chief Renaissance structures are the university, established in 1538, which is now a summer school for the University of Granada, the Catedral de Santa María, the Palacio de Jabalquinto, and the squares of Plaza de España and the Paseo de la Constitucíon. All of these sites are located within walking distance of each other, in what is called the Zona Monumental.

Baeza is 327 km (203 miles) by highway south of Madrid. It has a RENFE rail station (Linares - Baeza) 9 miles southwest on the Linares-Almeria railway and bus transportation from Granada, Málaga and Madrid. The nearest international airports are in Granada, 132 km (82 miles) south and Málaga, 241 km (150 miles) to the southwest.

Baeza was the birthplace of the sculptor and painter Gaspar Becerra.
The modernist poet Antonio Machado worked as a teacher in Baeza from 1912 through 1919, and it is believed that his most notable prose work, Juan de Mairena, was inspired by his experience there.