Castillo de Baños de la Encina, also known as Burgalimar Castle, is one of Spain's oldest and best-preserved medieval fortresses, built in 967 AD during the reign of Caliph Al-Hakam II of the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba. This 10th-century Muslim fortress features a distinctive elongated oval floor plan approximately 100 meters long by 46 meters wide, surrounded by robust crenellated walls reinforced with fourteen square towers of equal height and a 15th-century Christian Tower of Tribute. The 2,700 square-meter complex represents outstanding Muslim military architecture and craftsmanship, and was definitively reconquered by Ferdinand III the Saint in 1225. Today it stands as a remarkable testament to Islamic engineering and medieval military fortification in Andalusia.
