IGLESIAS, a town and episcopal see of Sardinia in the province of Cagliari, 34 m. W.N.W. from Cagliari by rail, 62o ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1931) 12,812 (town), 23,564 (commune). It is a mining centre with a school of mines in the southwestern mountains. Minerals go by a small railway via Monteponi (with its large lead and zinc mine) to Portovesme (15 m. S.W. of Iglesias in the sheltered gulf of Carloforte) where they are shipped. The cathedral of Iglesias, built by the Pisans, has a good façade (restored) ; the interior is late Spanish Gothic. San Francesco is a fine Gothic church with a gallery over the entrance, while Sta. Chiara and the church of the Capuchins (the former dating from 1285) are transitional Romanesque Gothic. The battlemented town walls are well preserved; the castle, built in 1325, now con tains a glass factory.