diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-pyarrow.yml b/.github/workflows/build-pyarrow.yml
index 43c0b6219050..fc39c607b23f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-pyarrow.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-pyarrow.yml
@@ -77,6 +77,15 @@ jobs:
           - cp313-cp313
           - cp314-cp314
           - cp314-cp314t
+        exclude:
+          # 16.1.0 predates cp313 (released Oct 2024, ~5 months after this
+          # release) and never shipped a wheel past cp312 upstream either.
+          - version: "16.1.0"
+            python: cp313-cp313
+          - version: "16.1.0"
+            python: cp314-cp314
+          - version: "16.1.0"
+            python: cp314-cp314t
 
     env:
       PYARROW_VERSION: ${{ matrix.version }}
@@ -135,6 +144,14 @@ jobs:
           DIST=/tmp/arrow-dist
           BUILD=/tmp/arrow-build
 
+          # BUNDLED thirdparty deps are built via ExternalProject_Add with their own
+          # vendored cmake_minimum_required (e.g. gflags' is 2.8.12), below CMake 4's
+          # floor of 3.5. The image's cmake (pipx-installed, >= 4) hard-errors on that
+          # instead of warning. We don't control the ExternalProject configure line, but
+          # CMake also reads CMAKE_POLICY_VERSION_MINIMUM from the environment, which
+          # reaches every nested cmake invocation this build makes (gotcha 257).
+          export CMAKE_POLICY_VERSION_MINIMUM=3.5
+
           # ninja and OpenSSL headers aren't in the base image
           dnf install -y --setopt=install_weak_deps=False ninja-build openssl-devel
 
diff --git a/docs/packages/pyarrow.yaml b/docs/packages/pyarrow.yaml
index 95b97b7635b5..948bfb0b19eb 100644
--- a/docs/packages/pyarrow.yaml
+++ b/docs/packages/pyarrow.yaml
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package-name: pyarrow
 source-code: https://github.com/apache/arrow
 license: Apache-2.0
 versions:
+- version: 16.1.0
 - version: 25.0.1
   tag: pyarrow-v25.0.1-20260902125649
   files: