The origin of the Renaissance Bullfight of Baeza
Next Saturday, May 4th, the city of Baeza hosts more than just a bullfight. The lineup breathes and oozes art from every angle. A perfect and rounded poster. In the birthplace of one of the most important artistic and cultural movements, the Renaissance begins in its bullring.
The monumental city of Baeza, along with its neighbor Úbeda, is part of the ensemble with the finest treasures of the Spanish Renaissance. Both were declared World Heritage Sites in 2003, as the richness of the 16th century left numerous palaces, churches, and stately buildings that today speak of the overwhelming splendor of the Renaissance, whose legacy has served them well to achieve such prestigious recognition by UNESCO.
This nomenclature was the excuse to create in this beautiful town the so-called “Corrida del Renacimiento“, an event that gains more prominence each year among fans from the region and neighboring towns due to the care and category with which it is organized. In 2024, this festival reaches its 5th edition, and the offer, both in terms of the matadors’ lineup and the bullfighting cattle to be fought, is genuinely interesting.
The spectacle is organized by the company Velagua Eventos, led by Juan Sánchez Bravo, in close communion with the city council of Baeza, and it will take place on Saturday, May 4th. Finito de Córdoba, Morante de la Puebla, and Juan Ortega make up an exquisite lineup, for refined tastes, and with one main attraction: to see them bullfight.
The three bullfighters stand out for their way of conceiving and interpreting bullfighting. Finito brings experience and seniority to the trio, Morante gives prestige to the lineup, and Juan Ortega, contemporaneity, novelty, and freshness. Furthermore, the bulls come from a historic lineage: the heirs of Carlos Núñez. One more incentive to attend this beautiful town in Jaén on the first Saturday of May.
More attractions? The monumental Baeza. The pleasure of walking its streets and stumbling upon the cathedral, which exhibits two different architectural styles because the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 knocked down part of the building, which had to be rebuilt. There you can see the processional custody, one of its greatest treasures.
The Santa María fountain, built in the 16th century by the Renaissance architect Ginés Martínez, undoubtedly one of the city’s symbols, the Pópulo Square, one of its most beautiful corners, or the Old Seminary of San Felipe Neri are other attractions worth visiting. Jabalquinto Palace, Santa Cruz Church, or the old university, where the poet Antonio Machado taught French classes, complete the cultural offer.
And to finish, its gastronomy, another of its great attractions. Its culinary offer is the result of the influences of the civilizations that have marked Baeza’s culture throughout the centuries, such as Roman, Jewish-Islamic, Moorish, or Mudejar cuisine, blended logically with the king on all tables in the province: Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Dishes like ochío, pipirrana, cuarrecano, hornazo, morrococo, migas, andrajos, blood sausage in a cauldron, or marinated pork loin add personality and fuse the history and tradition of this town onto a plate. Pestiños, aniseed biscuits, or the famous virolos, a delight for the palate, will put the right finishing touch to the menu, before crowning, in its beautiful bullring, a day with Bullfighting and the Renaissance as protagonists.
Poster of the Corrida del Renacimiento (Renaissance Bullfight)
Upcoming bullfighting events
Consult the calendar of bullfights in Spain: Seville, Valencia, Madrid… more than 150 bullrings and bullfighting shows.
