The arch of San Lorenzo is the only remaining vestige of the old church that gives it its name. It dates from the 13th century. Listed as a National Monument since 1877.

Located at the confluence of Almendros Aguilar and Madre de Dios streets, A defensive bastion was used for its construction, which was used as a sacristy, whose apse is what remains today as the San Lorenzo arch.

The interior is divided into two floors. On the ground floor is the old church chapel, a true treasure of Jaen´s Mudejar art that evokes the Alhambra in Granada. On the second floor there is the old sacristy.

The arch of San Lorenzo also stands out for the enormous historical legacy it treasures, as this is where the the monarch Fernando IV, king of Castile, who died in Jaén, was veiled, as Eslava Galán himself testifies in The Templars and the Table of Solomon.

(…) The same tradition ensures that they veiled the corpse of the monarch, or even buried it, in the Arch of San Lorenzo de Jaén. (…)

The Templars and the Table of Solomon. Chapter 21.

Furthermore, here lies Juan de Olid, Secretary of Constable Iranzo. Historical and also literary landmark, because Juan de Olid is the hero that Juan Eslava Galán uses to go “In search of the unicorn”. The author also makes mention of this fact in The Templars and the Table of Solomon

(…) Juan de Olid and his wife were buried in the parish of San Lorenzo, belonging to the hospital founded by Don Luis (…)

The Templars and the Table of Solomon. Chapter 22.