Castillo, Medieval castle in Baena, Spain

The Castillo de Baena is a square fortress about 70 m long and 37 m wide on the town's highest point. Of its four corner towers, three survive: the Torre del Secreto, the Torre de los Cascabeles and the Torre de las Cinco Esquinas or de las Arqueras, the last built of brick and mortar with arrow slits and a blocked lobed window.

Muslim historians first recorded the castle at the end of the 9th century, during Omar ibn Hafsún's revolt against the Emirate of Córdoba. After Fernando III took Baena in 1241 it became a key fortress on the frontier with the Nasrid kingdom of Granada. In 1386 Juan I granted the town to Diego Fernández de Córdoba, and the castle passed to the Casa de Cabra; after the War of Granada it became a residence of the counts, and in 1566 Felipe II made Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, fifth count of Cabra, duke of Baena.

The castle's mosque became a chapel dedicated to Saint Bartholomew after the 1241 Christian conquest. Oral tradition holds that Boabdil, the last Nasrid king of Granada, was imprisoned in the Cinco Esquinas or Arqueras tower, which was later converted into a chapel between the 16th and 17th centuries.

The castle stands at the highest point of Baena, separate from the town wall that once enclosed it. Restoration work ran from 2005 to 2016, with reconstruction in 2011 and the official opening on 13 September 2016. The site is a protected monument, so check access conditions before climbing up.

The restoration project added iroko wood walkways with stainless steel components that serve a dual purpose: connecting the towers while managing rainwater drainage throughout the structure. This approach blends contemporary engineering with historical preservation.