Here, on a hill commanding the new city, he built a large citadel which granted Badajoz a strategic role in controlling the passage from Portugal to central Iberia.

The last Muslim restoration was carried on by Abu Yahya ibn Abi Sinan in the 13th century, few years before the capture of the city by the Christian King Alfonso IX of León.

As a result, the Napoleonic hold on Western Spain was significantly weakened, and the Storming of the Alcazaba became part of Wellington's growing reputation for success in battle.

After the Christian conquest, the largest, the Great Mosque, was turned into a church, Santa María de Calatrava, which acted as the cathedral of Badajoz until the construction of the current one.

Another building in the Alzacaba is the Palace of the Dukes of Feria, built by the Grand Master of the Order of Santiago, Lorenzo Suárez de Figeroa (1387–1410).