Plaza Vázquez de Molina and the Palaces of Úbeda

Plaza Vázquez de Molina, also called Plaza de Santa María, is the great Renaissance drawing room of Úbeda and the heart of the ensemble that UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site in 2003. You arrive along streets with a medieval layout and suddenly a long rectangle of golden stone opens up, with gardens, a Renaissance fountain and a monument to Andrés de Vandelvira, the architect who left his signature on a good part of the city.

What surrounds it

At one end, the Sacra Capilla del Salvador, from the 16th century. On the sides, the Deán Ortega Palace, now a Parador hotel; the Vázquez de Molina Palace, known as the Palace of the Chains, which is the Town Hall; the basilica of Santa María de los Reales Alcázares; the Marqués de Mancera Palace, from the 16th and 17th centuries; the old Pósito (grain store) and the Bishop's Prison, both from the 16th century. The tourist office lists the Salvador, Santa María, the Marqués de Mancera Palace, the Pósito and the Bishop's Prison as Assets of Cultural Interest.

The Úbeda tourist office explains the idea behind the square: a space that joins the religious and the civil, conceived at the height of the Renaissance, which gradually took over the role of the old citadel as the centre of the city's power.

Santa María de los Reales Alcázares

It is the oldest building on the square. It stands on the site of the great mosque of the Muslim city and was built in phases between the 13th and 20th centuries. It has a Gothic cloister from the late 15th and early 16th centuries and many chapels closed off with iron grilles, which the tourist office counts among the best religious ironwork in Andalusia. The interior can be visited at its own opening times; check them at the tourist office.

How to walk it

Start at the Salvador and stroll the square slowly; then continue towards Plaza Primero de Mayo, with the former town hall buildings and the church of San Pablo, and come back along Calle Real, with the Palace of the Counts of Guadiana and its tower, now the Hotel Palacio de Úbeda. From the outside everything can be seen for free at any time. In an hour and a half you have it done.

If you would like someone to tell you the story, the guided tour of Úbeda passes through here and goes inside the Salvador and the Synagogue. The interior of the Sacra Capilla del Salvador is worth the entrance fee, and a few minutes away is the Water Synagogue.

Practical information

The Úbeda Tourist Office is at Plaza de Andalucía, 5; it opens Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 19:30, and on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from 9:30 to 15:00 (953 75 01 38). There they give you the map and the opening times of the monuments.

With children and with a dog

It is flat and largely pedestrianised: fine with a pushchair. With a dog, keep it on a lead.