Baños Árabes

Baños Árabes Review

Explore the narrow alleys of old Jaén as you walk from the cathedral to the Baños Árabes (Arab Baths), which once belonged to Ali, a Moorish king of Jaén, and probably date from the 11th century. In 1592, Fernando de Torres y Portugal, a viceroy of Peru, built himself a mansion, the Palacio de Villardompardo, right over the baths, so it took years of painstaking excavation to restore them to their original form. The palace contains a fascinating, albeit small, museum of folk crafts and a larger museum devoted to native art. Guided tours of the baths, some of the largest and best conserved in Spain, are done by volunteers and take place between 11 and 1:30. In 2012 the baths and museums closed for restoration work, with reopening scheduled for early 2013.