Linares

This populous and important city is located in the north of the province of Jaén, in the foothills of the Sierra Morena and close to the depression of the upper Guadalquivir. It enjoys a privileged geographical location as it is a crossroads close to the main motorways in the south of the peninsula.

Linares has one of the most important and best preserved mining heritages in Spain. It is common to see the remains of chimneys and other industrial vestiges, silent witnesses of a past of mining splendour that left in Linares an architecture linked to industry and to bourgeois and proletarian society.

The Basilica of Santa María la Mayor, a mixture of Gothic and Renaissance styles, and the neo-Gothic Hospital de los Marqueses are two good examples of its artistic heritage.

Of particular interest is the archaeological legacy of the Conjunto Arqueológico de la Ciudad Iberromana de Cástulo, just five kilometres from the city. In Roman times it was one of the ten most important cities on the Peninsula thanks to its lead and silver mines, of which there are still important remains today, such as the Mosaic of the Lovers, the Mosaic of the Octagons, the Paleo-Christian glass Paten from the 4th century and the sculpture of the Lion, from the 2nd - 1st centuries BC.

In addition to its mining heritage, Linares is the owner of a notable monumental ensemble and a marked bullfighting and musical character. The Santa Margarita bullring, located next to the emblematic Paseo de Linarejos, has witnessed great evenings and tragedies such as the death in 1947 of the bullfighter Manolete. Furthermore, the city where the famous guitarist Andrés Segovia was born has a long musical tradition linked to the taranta, a flamenco song born around the mining industry.

The La Garza golf course is the only one in the province of Jaén. It is located a few kilometres from the city, in a privileged enclave with the mining landscape as a backdrop.

Information

Data of interest

Tourist area  Sierra Morena/Jaén Cultura del Toro/ Distrito Minero Linares-La Carolina/Sierras de Andújar y Despeñaperros
Distance to the capital (km) 49
Altitude above sea level (m) 419
Extension (Km 2 ) 196
No. of Inhabitants57.414
Demonym Linarenses
Postal Code 23700

Tourist information

ÁREA DE TURISMO
Iglesia, 5 – 23700 Linares, Jaén
Telf.: 953 10 01 83
http://www.turismolinares.es/
Email: turismo@aytolinares.es

This municipality is part of:

Culture

Linares has a varied collection of buildings (churches, palaces, ancestral homes) of different styles and periods, from the simplicity of the Romanesque to the preciousness of the modernist buildings of the 19th and 20th centuries linked to its past of mining splendour.

The Basilica of Santa María la Mayor, built between the 13th and 15th centuries, with a mixture of Gothic and Renaissance styles, has a beautiful Plateresque altarpiece.

The town has not forgotten its past either, and good proof of this are the museums to be found here: the Archaeological Museum, which conserves the remains of previous civilisations that occupied these lands, and the Mining Landscape Interpretation Centre, where we can find samples of mining works, pieces and videos on the location of the mining heritage in the region. And with the statue of the Miner, the inhabitants want to pay tribute to the generations that laid the foundations of the city that today is Linares. 

The House-Museum of Andrés Segovia, or that of Raphael, remind us of illustrious people who carried the name of Linares all over the world.

 

Nature

As it is located in the foothills of the Sierra Morena, Linares has some very beautiful natural landscapes and enclave ...

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Source of information

Ayuntamiento de Linares

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