A stroll through Linares gives travellers an opportunity to discover a city that reached its heyday in the 19th century, due to the lead and silver mining boosted by foreign investment and the advent of the railway. Traces of the flourishing past and economic splendour are still perceived in the city’s streets and buildings. It is most noticeable in the landscape dotted with chimney stacks and mineshafts. All the above, together with wealthy trade, excellent food in a multitude of traditional bars and taverns, renowned tapas and a rich cultural heritage starring fighting bulls and flamenco make Linares an interesting tourist destination.

Mining and lodes of lead attracted the peoples of several different cultures to settle in this land since the early ages, as evidenced by the impressive archaeological site of Cástulas, one of the most important Ibero-Roman settlements in Spain. However, Linares was only a hamlet huddled in the shadow of the Arab castle until the reign of Felipe II, when the monarch granted Linares city status.

The building of the castle of Linares is associated with the Moorish tactic of strengthening the strategic enclaves that were threatened by the progressive entrenchment and expansion of the Christians. Today we can only recreate the city’s original appearance due to the plans drawn by the historian Martín Ximena in the 17th century and a watercolour painted by Pier María Baldi during a journey he made to Andalusia in 1668, accompanied by the Italian prince Cosimo de’ Medici.

Thanks to them we know that the castle was rectangular and its towers were round. In the Christian period, the towers were made taller to make living quarters for their inhabitants. We also know of the existence of a curtain wall that encircled the castle and a moat that reinforced its line of defence.

Conquered in 1227 by Fernando III, the castle remained standing over the centuries, as a witness to the development of the hamlet that was under the authority of the Council of Baeza in those days. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the castle was the scene of constant fighting among the nobility during a period of political and social unrest, until Linares gained independence and began to emerge as the regional capital.

In the 19th century Linares experienced a profound transformation into one of the most prosperous and cosmopolitan cities in the region. Curiously, that was also when the fortress began its decline and became a ruin. Currently, only the aforementioned remains are preserved.