Torreón del Castillo de Begíjar

Begíjar, Spain, Spain

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Torreón del Castillo de Begíjar is the sole surviving keep of a medieval fortress in Begíjar, Jaén province, Spain, with origins linked to Visigothic times, later restructured by Muslims and Christians after Ferdinand III's 1226 conquest. Donated to the Jaén diocese in 1251, it served as an episcopal residence and ecclesiastical prison within a walled compound featuring a moat, drawbridges, and small flanking turrets, accessed via an arched bridge making the tower albarrana. The well-preserved square tower boasts two vaulted floors—the lower with a hemispherical dome on brick squinches, the upper with eight ogival ribs on pointed squinches, aspillars, and canonical half-barrel windows—earning Historic Monument status in 1985.