Jaén

Jaén lies below the ridge of Santa Catalina in the olive country of the upper Guadalquivir. Ferdinand III of Castile took the city in 1246 after the sieges of 1225 and 1230, and Jaén became the head of its own kingdom and the main base for the Castilian war against Granada until 1492. Enrique II gave it many privileges, and under Enrique IV the constable Miguel Lucas de Iranzo made it his seat and obtained the right for its banner to lead those of the kingdom.

The cathedral stood on the site of the principal mosque, which served as a church until Bishop Nicolás de Biedma replaced it with a Gothic building in 1368; the diocesan synod of 1492 ordered collection boxes in every parish to pay for rebuilding, and a survey in 1525 warned that its tower might collapse. The Renaissance project was designed by Andrés de Vandelvira from around 1551; the sacristy was completed in 1577, the crossing and dome for the consecration of 1660, and the façade in 1688. The cathedral keeps the relic of the Holy Face. The Fuente de los Caños was built in 1558 and the Royal Economic Society of Friends of the Country of the city and kingdom of Jaén was created in 1786.