Baeza’s most flamboyant palace was probably built in the late 15th century for a member of the noble Benavides clan. Its chief glory is the spectacular facade in decorative Isabelline Gothic style, with a strange array of naked humans clambering along the moulding over the doorway; above is a line of shields topped by helmets topped by mythical birds and beasts. The patio has a two-tier Renaissance arcade with marble columns, an elegant fountain, and a magnificent carved baroque stairway.
Today the palace is the seat of the Baeza campus of the Universidad Internacional de Andalucía, which runs postgraduate courses in a variety of disciplines. Across the square, the 13th-century Iglesia de Santa Cruz was one of the first churches built in Baeza. With its round arches and semicircular apse, it's a very rare example in Andalucía of Romanesque architecture.
