Located in Baena, the Torreparedones Archaeological Park, also known as Torre de las Vírgenes and Castro el Viejo, is one of the most important archaeological places in the province of Cordoba from an archaeological viewpoint. Since the Modern Age it has been known for the casual appearance of notable remains that reflect the category it once had in antiquity.
It is located in the heart the Cordoba countryside and is part of the municipal districts of Baena and Castro del Río. It also has a visitor reception centre and a large car park.
The site was inhabited from the end of the Neolithic era until the beginning of the 16th century, reaching its maximum splendour in Iberian and Roman times, when it obtained the status of colony or municipal district. The most significant finds date from these times.
The most significant elements which the site provides these days are Roman buildings like the East door with a road in perfect condition, the forum and adjacent buildings, spas and the market, the medieval castle, a 16th century chapel, the necropolis with underground tombs and the Iberian-Roman sanctuary located to the South, outside the walls, where hundreds of votive offerings have been sculpted in stone, and where the faithful deposited their offerings for several centuries dedicated to the god which was worshipped there: Dea Caelestis.
The chance discovery of the so-called “Mausoleum of the Pompeyos”, in 1833, a monumental tomb containing the incinerated remains of 12 people from the same family, with their names etched in stone urns, was a landmark in the history of the site because it drew the attention of numerous national and foreign researchers.
References:The Church of St Donatus name refers to Donatus of Zadar, who began construction on this church in the 9th century and ended it on the northeastern part of the Roman forum. It is the largest Pre-Romanesque building in Croatia.
The beginning of the building of the church was placed to the second half of the 8th century, and it is supposed to have been completed in the 9th century. The Zadar bishop and diplomat Donat (8th and 9th centuries) is credited with the building of the church. He led the representations of the Dalmatian cities to Constantinople and Charles the Great, which is why this church bears slight resemblance to Charlemagne's court chapels, especially the one in Aachen, and also to the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. It belongs to the Pre-Romanesque architectural period.
The circular church, formerly domed, is 27 m high and is characterised by simplicity and technical primitivism.