Jassy, Or Yassy (Roum. Yash), a town of Rou-mania, capital of Moldavia, on the Bakhlui, a tributary of the Pruth, 205 m. N N. E. of Bucharest; pop. about 90,000, of whom 35,000 are Jews. It is built partly on a hill and partly in a valley; and as many of the houses are surrounded by gardens, it covers a comparatively large space. It has few spacious streets, but a great number of churches and convents, among the more remarkable of which are the metropolitan church of St. Nicholas, the churches of Sokolla and Galata, and the convent of Trisve-letch, containing the tombs of the archbishops. There are also several palaces belonging to distinguished boyar families, and in the vicinity of the city the princely summer residence Copola attracts the attention of travellers. It is the seat of a Greek metropolitan, and has a university, a theological seminary, a lyceum, schools of art and music, about 70 Greek churches, a Catholic, an Armenian, and a Protestant church, a magnificent hospital, a large bazaar, and public baths. The trade of the city is in great part in the hands of the Jews. The manufactures are limited, but the trade is important, and a large business is done in the public fairs.

The place was materially injured by the Russo-Turkish war of 1853-'6, but since the consolidation of Roumania (1861) has revived and is now flourishing. - Jassy is the Jassiorum Muni-cipium of the Romans, so called from the Jassii, a people of Dacia. Trajan built here a residence, which was destroyed by fire in the last century. Conflagrations frequently visit the city; one of the most disastrous happened in 1822, and another in 1843 destroyed a large number of the wooden houses. A peace was concluded here in 1792 between the Russians and Turks. In the wars of these nations, including the last, Jassy was often the headquarters of the contending armies. In April, 1866, on the election of Prince Charles of Hohenzollern to the throne of Roumania, Jassy was the scene of an insurrection, which was soon suppressed.