Plaza del Pópulo

Baeza's Plaza del Pópulo is also called Plaza de los Leones after the fountain in the foreground below. It has two major historic buildings and a commemorative arch. Stones here remind us of history stretching back to the days when Carthage fought Rome in the third century BC -- and later when the Spanish nobles fought their new Emperor in the 1500s.



Baeza spans three gentle hills. One descends from the cathedral to the large and lively Plaza de la Constitución. About halfway, it stops at the bit of a plateau shown above: the Plaza del Pópulo. We found the square empty just before the start of a Monday siesta. Note the absence of cars in the monumental squares, as was the case in nearby Úbeda. In the foreground is the Fuente (fountain) of the Leones, at left the old butcher shop, back center is the Casa del Pópulo attached to the Arco (memorial arch) de Villalar.

Fuenta de los Leones

The Fuenta de los Leones (Fountain of the Lions) was assembled from the ruins of the once nearby town of Cástulo. The statue is of Cástulo’s princess Himilce who married Hannibal as Carthage prepared in Spain to take on those upstart Romans in the Second Punic War. During the Visigoth and Moorish eras, the town faded and much of it migrated – first the mint, then the bishopric, and eventually the very buildings were moved stone by stone -- to Baeza. What was left of Cástulo became a haven for bandits and it was leveled like a crack house in the 15th century. Today not even archeological excavations take place in what was the Roman’s largest town in Iberia. These deteriorated lions and their princess remind us “Sic transit gloria Cástulo.”

Antigua Carniceria

This stately building was also moved here stone by stone – but not from Cástulo. It was the old butchers shop (Antigua Carniceria) which stood about 100 yards from this site. What does it say about a society when the slaughterhouse looks this good? Today this 16th century Renaissance jewel has a more dignified role as the judicial center. (Do those barred windows keep people out or in?)

At center of the upper floor we see...



...the Emperor's coat-of-arms. The double eagle is that of the Holy Roman Emperor who borrowed the image from the Byzantine Empire which kept Rome alive (more or less) in the East until the 15th century.  This shield is of Charles V. His ancestors participated in enough sanctioned incest so that he inherited through 4 different royal lines -- giving his crest four inner shields representing each of the lines of descent. Charles became a biological European Union. Since his family tree didn’t branch, he suffered from the Hapsburg jaw – so misaligned that he could barely chew (and digest his food). Epilepsy and gout also plagued him. Today the shield of the man who couldn’t masticate emblazons an ancient butcher shop. Go chew on that!
 

Casa del Pópulo

The Casa del Pópulo is now the tourist office. It was called the Audiencia Civil y Escribanías Públicas since townsfolks in those pre-twitter days would come here to get documents written and read, entering different clerks’ offices through the six doors seen here. Its beautiful Renaissance façade seems to have its symmetry broken by the quarter-circle balcony which was incorporated into the old arch of a city gate.

Medallions emblazon this Plateresque façade. At the bottom of the picture below left is the dilapidated seal of Baeza.


If you're into the details, click on the picture to enlarge it to see the keys between the arch of the castle (or click here to see a graphic.)

The balcony on the Casa del Pópulo (pictured above right) is quite elaborate even if a bit incongruous. In the picture below it connects with t\one of the few remaining city gates, the Puerta de Jaen.  Its  arch bears another of Charles V’s coat-of-arms and faces the old butcher shop across this small square.



We look here past the balcony of the Casa del Pópulo through the Puerta de Jaen (left) and a memorial arch commemorating the April 1521 victory of Charles V over those pesky Castilians who rebelled against his increased taxation. This started as Charles was tied up suppressing Luther at the other end of his European kingdom. Luther ended his defense at the Diet of Worms three days before his victory at the battle at Villalar honored in stone here at right. Things would get worse as Charles tried to preserve the Catholic Church. A few short years later, England’s Henry VIII would try to annul his 24-year marriage to Charles’ Aunt Catherine. Henry appealed to the Pope who was to Henry's chagrin then a prisoner of Charles V! (Charles's mutinous troops would later sack Rome when he ran out of money to pay them. Just who was defending whom?)

But not all was problematic for Charles in 1521: His realm stretched westward to the New World and Magellan had just sailed into what would be called the Philippines when it was named for Charles' son and successor Philip. But eventually it all became too much and Charles resigned his emperorship in 1556.



But Charles V's visit to Baeza came at a happier time when he stopped here in 1526 on his way to marry Isabel of Portugal (his  cousin, of course. In those days European royalty were redefining the concept of kissing cousins.)

Only a few remnants of the old fort (Alcazar) and the towns defensive towers, walls, and gates still stand after 1476 when Queen Isabel ordered them destroyed, hoping to end the nearly constant civil war between the town’s two most powerful families. In many Andalusian towns, one family would capture the old fortifications and use it as a base to attack their rivals. After Ferdinand and Isabel complete the Reconquista, they removed much of these fortifications since they no longer needed them to defend against the Moors. In Andalusia, the enemies now were to come from within (until Napoleon arrived three centuries later.)

Note how much thicker the walls were of the defensive gate (Puerta de Jaen) at right in the above picture vs. the commemorative arch (Arco de Villalar) at left.

Please join us now for our last stop at an ingenously "restored" Vandelvira building by clicking here.

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Please join us in the following slide show to give Baeza the viewing it deserves by clicking here.

Baeza, Spain

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