This handsome square is surrounded by elegant 16th-century buildings. The central Fuente de los Leones is made of carvings from the Ibero-Roman village of Cástulo and is topped by a statue reputed to represent Imilce, a local princess who became one of the wives of the famous Carthaginian general Hannibal.
The Puerta de Jaén on the plaza's west side was originally a city gate of Muslim Bayyasa, though it was reconstructed in 1526. Joined to it is the Arco de Villalar, erected by Carlos I the same year to commemorate the crushing of a serious insurrection in Castilla that had threatened to overthrow him.
On the southern side of the square is the lovely 16th-century Casa del Pópulo, formerly a courthouse and now housing Baeza’s tourist office. It was built in the plateresque style, an early phase of Renaissance architecture noted for its decorative facades. Today the role of courthouse is played by the Antigua Carnicería, from 1547, on the eastern side of the square, which must rank as one of the world's most elegant ex-butcheries, with the shield of Carlos I emblazoned on its facade.
