JAEN, the capital of the above province, is picturesquely situated 37 miles north of Granada and 120 miles east of Seville, on the Jaen (an affluent of the Guadalquivir), at the base and on the slopes of an acclivity surmounted by an ancient Moorish citadel with which the walls of the city are connected. Its elevation above the sea-level is about 1800 feet. The streets, rising above one another on the hill-side, are narrow and irregularly built ; but there is a fine alameda commanding magnificent views of the surrounding country. The principal public building is the cathedral, built in the 16th century, in the Grmco-Roman style, on the site of an old Moorish mosque destroyed, in 1492. In it is preserved the relic called "El Santo Rostro" or"La Santa Fez," "the Holy Face," said to have been impressed by the Saviour on thehandkerchief of St Veronica. Besides the cathedral, there are twelve parish churches and fourteen religious houses ; the city also possesses hospitals, barracks, a theatre, an " instituto," a library, and a museum of painting and sculpture. The manufactures of Jacn are unimportant. The population in 1877 was 24,392.

The identification of Jaen with the Roman Aurinx, which has sometimes been suggested, is extremely questionable. During the period of Arab domination it early became a commercial centre of considerable importance, under the name of Jayyan, and ultimately rose to the dignity of capital of a petty kingdom, which was brought to an end only in 1246 by Ferdinand III., who transferred thither the bishopric of Baeza. Ferdinand IV., "El Emplazado," died at Jaen in 1312. In 1712 the town suffered severely from an earthquake.