Malaga tourist information
The extensive territory of the municipality of Málaga, the province’s third in area, after Antequera and Ronda, contains at least two very different kinds of landscape. In the north are the Málaga Mountains, a heavily wooded and, as its name indicates, mountainous area that is of great ecological and scenic value and has been designated a Nature Park by the Assembly of Andalusia. In this same territory, but towards the east, the terrain clearly has an affinity with that of La Axarquía, and here are found the highest elevations, such as the Santo Pitar peak (1,020 metres).
The country levels out to the west and forms what is known as the Hoya de Málaga (Málaga Valley), which is nothing more than the depression where the valleys of the Rivers Guadalmedina and Guadalhorce join, before emptying into the Mediterranean. In this area the seaward-facing part of the city, which tends to widen to the west, blends with the sugarcane fields, orchards and market gardens that form the last holdouts of an agrarian tradition that is being steadily absorbed by industrial parks and the constantly expanding airport.
The urban layout of the city stretches from east to west for some 12 kilometres, and in the approximate centre, the huge semicircle opens up that contains the historic district. Practically all the monuments and tourist sites are concentrated here except for the so-called historic gardens, which are in the outskirts of the city.
Faced with the Assyrian expansion and the progressive desertification of their territories, the Phoenicians from Tyre arrived on the Andalusian coasts around 800 B.C. and during that era founded Malaka. At first, it was less a city than a trading base around the port. Some time later the Greeks would found neighbouring Mainake, which would be destroyed by the Carthaginians, who in turn suffered from the power of Rome and were overcome by it in the late third century B. C. in the Second Punic War.
Export activity increased under Roman rule, based mainly on garum (fish sauce or paste), wine and olive oil. In the year 81 A. D., the city was already a federated municipality and several important buildings had been constructed, of which the theatre on the slopes of La Alcazaba has been preserved. As Roman leadership waned, the city passed into the hands of the Silingos, Vandals and Visigoths, and after the Islamic invasion it would belong to the Emirate and subsequent Caliphate of Córdoba.
In later ages, the city would fall under the control of the Hammudi Berbers, the Ziríes of Granada, the Almoravids, the Almohads and the Nazarites. Despite these constant changes, the city retained its commercial activity, owing in large part to the protection provided by its strong walls and to the lookout that could be maintained from the Gibralfaro castle.
Christian troops laid siege to the city of Málaga for a century, and it finally surrendered unconditionally in 1487. This unconditional surrender involved slavery or exile for a large number of its residents. With its conversion to Christianity, the city began to transform. It extended its limits to outside the walls and the Church quickly began to build churches and convents. To the Moorish disturbances of the sixteenth century, which ended with their expulsion in 1614 and the consequent shortages, must be added the flooding of the River Guadalmedina and the epidemics that spread through the city in the seventeenth century, as well as the pirate and Berber incursions and the attacks of the French and British fleets. The population, then, arrived at the end of the seventeenth century in a state of exhaustion.
During the next century, Málaga entered an era of greater stability in every sense of the word and, most importantly, the economy began to strengthen, due mainly to agricultural exports. The end of the monopoly on trading with the Indies was a direct factor in the surge in shipping activity.
In the nineteenth century the city not only suffered from the Napoleonic invasion but also from the conflicts between Liberals and Absolutists that caused General Torrijos and his companions to die before the firing squad on the beaches of San Andrés in 1831 during the reign of Fernando VII. Towards the middle of this century, Málaga experienced a period of industrialisation based on the textile and steel industries that placed it in second place in Spain in that category.
The Larios and Heredia families were the promoters of this intensive economic activity, and the city showed their appreciation to them by erecting statues and naming some of its main streets after them. It was in the nineteenth century that Málaga took on its urban layout: the working class neighbourhoods and factories were located in the western part and in the eastern part were the large mansions of the new middle class, while in the centre some of the streets were widened and architecturally striking buildings were erected.
A new economic crisis was approaching, however. The flourishing industry began to falter and the phylloxera pest destroyed wine production, which had traditionally been one of the pillars of the province’s wealth. There were ups and downs, but the economy of Málaga did not take off until the 1960’s when mass tourism found in the Costa del Sol a destination that would ultimately become a global standard.
From any point on either the eastern or western Costa del Sol take the A-7 (N-340) expressway, where Málaga exits are perfectly marked. If coming from the interior of Andalusia, first follow the signs to Antequera, and there get onto the A-45 (N-331) expressway, which leads to Málaga.
Except for the Phoenician remains found in the Museo Picasso, the city’s most ancient monument is the Teatro Romano (Roman theatre, 100 B. C.) located at the foot of the Alcazaba. Its construction is similar to the Acinipo theatre in Ronda. A part of its proscenium, an entrance gallery, traces of the orchestra and a large part of the cavea (16 metres tall and with a radius of 31 metres) have been preserved. Its stone was used for the construction of the Alcazaba and for the foundation of the Casa de la Cultura (House of Culture), a building that was torn down in 1995 to restore the ancient monument.
The Alcazaba dates from the early eleventh century, but it was in the middle of that century that King Badis of the Taifa kingdom of Granada turned it into one of the most important Muslim fortresses of the age by providing it with a triple fortified compound with several towers. The fortress’ interior housed the palace of the Muslim high command and quarters for the servants. After the Christian conquest it served as a residence for the Catholic Monarchs and Felipe IV.
The fortress was abandoned during the eighteenth century and in the mid-nineteenth it was turned into a poor residential neighbourhood. It was designated a National Monument in 1931 and its restoration and reconstruction began at that time under the direction of the Málaga historian Juan Temboury and the architect Guerrero Strachan. The most interesting places on the premises are the Arco del Cristo (Arch of Christ), the Plaza de Armas (Main Square), the Torre del Homenaje (Tower of Homage) and the Cuartos de Granada (palace living chambers). Today the site is accessible by elevator.
The Castillo de Gibralfaro, which sits at the crest of the mountain of the same name, is connected to the Alcazaba by a corridor (“coracha”) that runs between two walls. This strategic fortress’ construction began in the late eighth century during the Emirate of Abderramán I. Apparently there was first a lighthouse on the top of this mountain, or at least that is what is to be gathered from a notation from the seventh century where it is referred to as Gebel Faruk (“mountain of the lighthouse”).
Beginning with the city’s fall to the Catholic Monarchs it was used as a military garrison and in the eighteenth century a powder magazine was built inside it, that today has been adapted as the monument’s interpretive centre. It was partly destroyed during the Napoleonic invasion and later rebuilt, but it preserves parts of its earliest structure. It should be noted that aside from its extraordinary historical value the compound, whose entrance is accessible by car, affords the best panoramic views of the city.
Immediately after the conquest of the city by the Christian troops, the former congregational mosque was consecrated under the name of Virgen de la Encarnación, and 30 years later construction of the Catedral (Cathedral) began on the same area that had been occupied by the mosque. The new church was designed in the final Gothic style, but when Diego de Siloé took charge of the project he decided on the Renaissance style. Its construction took more than two centuries, however, so succeeding architectural styles were incorporated, especially Baroque with some Neoclassicism. The south tower was never completed, so the Málaga Cathedral is known as “La Manquita” (“The One-armed One”).
Its magnificent masonry construction, culminating in the main façade, encloses some of the most remarkable art items to be seen in the city. One example is the dressed stone of the choir room on which Pedro Mena, among other artists, worked. He is responsible for 42 figures and the finish work. Two grandiose eighteenth century organs located on either side of the stonework complement the choir room.
The Cathedral has 15 chapels and 25 altars. The La Encarnación chapel is in the centre of the ambulatory. It has a lavish marble neoclassic altarpiece. The Santa Bárbara chapel has a Gothic altarpiece that belonged to the former mosque-cathedral, although its main image is by Fernando Ortiz (1765). The Virgen de los Reyes chapel contains a Gothic figure of the Virgin that was donated by Isabel the Catholic, and two sculptures representing Isabel and Fernando in prayer, likewise done by Pedro de Mena. There is also an exquisite Dolorosa (Weeping Madonna) by him in the Los Caídos chapel, which is overlooked by a Crucifix by Alonso de Mena, Pedro’s father.
In the Virgen del Rosario (Virgin of the Rosary) chapel the large canvas of the same name, a work by Alonso Cano, is exceedingly impressive. This is without a doubt the best example of pictorial art housed in the most important church in Málaga. The two seventeenth century pulpits of pink stone are also remarkable.
The iglesia del Sagrario (El Sagrario church) that is attached to the Cathedral on the north side is notable for its sixteenth century late Gothic style façade. The interior is made up of a single nave with barrel vault and houses a magnificent plateresque altarpiece that was salvaged from a village in Palencia.
On the Plaza del Obispo to the left of the main façade of the Cathedral stands the Palacio Episcopal (Episcopal Palace), a complex of buildings made up of sixteenth and eighteenth century structures. The most remarkable thing about its splendid Baroque front, divided by pilasters into five vertical panels three levels high and crowned by a pinnacled balustrade, is its façade of white, pink and grey marble with a niche on its upper part that houses an statue of the Virgen de las Angustias (Virgin of Anguish). An artistic stairway with a decorated vault begins in the interior courtyard, which has elegant Tuscan columns. At the present time the main floor of the palace is used for exhibition halls.
Calle San Agustín is in front of the Cathedral’s Puerta de los Naranjos (Gate of the Orange Trees). It is without a doubt one of the most traditional streets in Málaga and is the location of the Palacio de los Condes de Buenavista (Palace of the Counts of Buenavista). This is one of the few Renaissance secular structures in Málaga and dates from 1520. Its austere façade with a slight plateresque touch and its lookout tower confer upon it a certain fortress air.
Since October 2003 this beautiful palace is home to Málaga’s Museo Picasso (Picasso Museum), which houses the private collection of Christine Picasso that she kindly donated to the city that was the birthplace of the most representative artist of the twentieth century. After a meticulous renovation the former mansion, which also was the seat of the Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes (Provincial Museum of Fine Arts), has been adapted to its new museum function according to guidelines for absolute modernity and respect for a sixteenth century structure. The transformation of the premises has been described as exemplary by experts from around the world.
The permanent collection, made up of more than 200 works by the artistic genius from Málaga, is distributed over several galleries that still preserve the palace’s magnificent Mudéjar coffered ceilings. Paintings, sculptures, graphic works and ceramics represent the different creative stages of this artist who has finally returned to his native land, and has done so under the best possible conditions in terms of exposition facilities.
The Museo Picasso opens onto the pedestrian zone of Calle Granada, and only a few steps from the art museum stands the iglesia de Santiago (Santiago church) where little Pablo was baptised. The church was modified in the eighteenth century but two important features of its original Mudéjar construction remain: the walled façade with an ogive arch and the tower of facing brick with Almohade decoration. Its interior is profusely adorned with stuccowork, especially the side chapels.
A few metres up from this church is the Plaza de la Merced, a typical example of nineteenth century Málaga city planning. The La Paz and La Merced convents and the Santa Ana hospital used to be located here but no trace of them remains. The monument to General Torrijos was erected in the centre of the square in 1842, eleven years after he was executed by a firing squad on the beaches of San Andrés for his liberal ideas. The monument is a work by Rafael Mitjana, who designed a slender obelisk with laurel crowns on its uppermost part.
Pablo Ruiz Picasso was born in 1881 in the area to the north of the plaza, in one of the so-called “Casas de Campos” (country houses). The building in which he came into the world has been the Fundación Picasso (Picasso Foundation) since 1988 and is considered one of the most complete documentation centres in the world on the subject of this Málaga artist. It also houses a museum section exhibiting a choice selection of graphic works, photographs, and ceramics and even a recreation of the way a room of the Picasso family would have looked in the late nineteenth century.
The Plaza de María Guerrero adjoins the Plaza de la Merced, and the Calle Alcazabilla starts there. On this street we will encounter the rear of the Museo Picasso, the Teatro Roman (Roman Theatre) and the entrance to the Alcazaba fortress, with the Palacio de la Aduana (Customhouse) in front of it. This is one of the most emblematic buildings in Málaga. It was planned and begun in the late eighteenth century to take the place of the old customhouse on Puerta del Mar, and completed in the early nineteenth century.
The structure is of neoclassic style with a square floor plan and exhibits a grim bossed façade. The interior is arranged around a courtyard with a double portico crowned by a balustrade with Roman sculptures. After being used for many things-including as a tobacco factory for a time- it eventually became the site of the Governmental Sub-Delegation, but in a few years it will be converted into the Museo de Bellas Artes y Arqueológico (Fine Arts and Archaeological Museum), whose items are in storage for lack of a suitable space for exhibiting them. In the meantime, some of the best works from the collections of the Museo de Bellas Artes are on display on the ground floor.
Next to the Palacio de la Aduana the Paseo del Parque (Park Promenade) stretches between the port, the Cortina del Muelle and the slopes of the Alcazaba. This green belt, approximately 800 metres long and lying on land claimed from the sea in the late nineteenth century, is less a park in the usual sense than a botanical garden. Numerous tropical and subtropical tree species, including one or two that are unique on our continent, have easily acclimated here, which is unusual for Europe and a powerful attraction to visitors.
In its highly romantic gazebos are found busts of the poets Salvador Rueda and Rubén Darío and a sculpture by Jaime Pimentel of a traditional vendor of “biznagas” (a local flower plant). The Avenida de Cervantes runs parallel to the Paseo del Parque and here are three remarkable early twentieth century buildings. The former Correos (Post Office), now the Rectorate of the University of Málaga, is of a peculiar neo-Mudéjar style and the Banco de España (Bank of Spain) is elegantly neoclassic. The Ayuntamiento (Town Hall) is a moderately Baroque work by Guerrero Strachan and Rivera Vera and is noteworthy, among other features, for its meeting room and the Sala de Los Espejos (Hall of Mirrors).
The Jardines de Puerta Oscura (Puerta Oscura gardens) are behind the Ayuntamiento and under the walls of the Alcazaba, on the site of an ancient Roman villa. The gardens are organised as terraces and zigzag paths in order to take advantage of the mountain slope. In front of the east façade of the Town Hall stretch the Jardines de Pedro Luis Alonso (Pedro Luis Alonso Gardens) where nineteenth century landscaping blends with Hispano-Muslim features such as a pool with fountains and rows of orange trees.
On the east the Paseo del Parque opens onto the Plaza del General Torrijos, in the centre of which is the nineteenth century Las Tres Gracias fountain. It used to be on the Plaza de la Constitución. If we continue along Paseo de Reding we will see the Plaza de Toros (a nineteenth century neo-Mudéjar bullring) on our right and some 100 metres farther along the former Hotel Miramar, which is now the Palacio de Justicia (Hall of Justice). This is another great historic building by Guerrero Strachan, and was erected in the 1920’s.
Back in the centre of the city, we find ourselves at Plaza de la Marina, between the port and Málaga’s two main traffic arteries, Calle Larios and La Alameda. This plaza has been remodelled many times, and the last time sections of the Nazarite walls and the seventeenth century port wall were uncovered and are now preserved in the underground car park. The Monumento al Marqués de Larios (Marquise of Larios Monument), by Mariano Benlliure overlooks this urban space. The Marquise of Larios was the driving force in the new urban development of Málaga and is responsible for the street that bears his name and which linked the port district in a straight line with the Plaza de la Constitución. Calle Larios, Málaga’s main commercial street, was designed by Eduardo Strachan in the late nineteenth century according to the canons of the Chicago School. It was recently remodelled, and now exhibits the most carefully tended urban landscape in the capital.
Calle Larios opens onto Plaza de la Constitución, a former Muslim market that was adapted as the main plaza after the Christian conquest. It was remodelled at the same time as Calle Larios and in this plaza the Renaissance (sixteenth century) Fuente de Génova (Genoa Fountain) has been placed that was formerly on of the Paseo del Parque gazebos. The east side of this plaza faces the street known as Pasaje de Chinitas, with its typical and stereotypical echoes of García Lorca bullfighters, tablao flamenco and cante grande.
On the north face of the plaza we find the former Casa del Consulado (Consulate), now the site of the Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País (Friends of the Country Economic Society). It has an artistic façade and a beautiful eighteenth century style courtyard. The adjacent building, the Ateneo de Málaga (Málaga Athenaeum) was formerly the Escuela de Artes y Oficios (School of Arts and Trades) where Picasso received his first painting lessons. These two buildings and the iglesia del Santo Cristo de la Salud (Holy Christ of Health Church, this last on Calle Compañía) belonged to the Company of Jesus. The seventeenth century church has a circular floor plan crowned by a large dome, and houses a magnificent main altarpiece from 1633 and the tomb of Pedro de Mena.
Let’s continue long Calle Compañía to the alley of Los Mártires in order to get to the plaza and church of the same name: the Iglesia de los Santos Mártires (Church of the Holy Martyrs), which the Catholic Monarchs ordered to be built. Work began on it in the sixteenth century and it was remodelled in the eighteenth, so its decorations are of the late Baroque period.
Back on Calle Compañía and westbound towards the River Guadalmedina we will take the Pasillo de Santa Isabel, parallel to the river. At number 10 on this street is the Mesón de la Victoria (La Victoria tavern), which was built in the seventeenth century over a former fifteenth century mosque. Since the 1970’s it has housed the Museo de Artes y Costumbres Populares (Museum of Popular Art and Culture) and is a very good place to reflect, amid well-tended collections of utensils, tools and furnishings from years past, on the rural, mining, industrial and middle class life of Málaga centuries ago.
Leaving the Pasillo de Santa Isabel we enter the Plaza de Arriola. Here stands the Mercado Central (Central Market), which preserves the Puerta de las Atarazanas (the gate of Las Atarazanas, that is to say of the former medieval shipyards). Although it has been considerably restored the gate still has a large pointed horseshoe arch and is the only trace of a large 5,000 square metre building that in the Christian era served as an arsenal, and that collapsed after the explosion of several gunpowder mills in the seventeenth century. After its reconstruction it was dedicated as a hospital and in the nineteenth century was used as the Colegio de Cirugía (Surgical College) and even as an artillery garrison, until the decision was made in 1868 to demolish all of it except for the south gate in order to build the market.
The Santuario de la Virgen de la Victoria (Virgin of Victory Sanctuary) is outside the historic quarter but still within the urban district. It was originally a hermitage built on the place where Fernando the Catholic set up his encampment to prepare for the taking of Málaga. In the seventeenth century the hermitage was replaced by a Baroque church, paid for by the Count of Buenavista. The interior of the church is noteworthy for the “camarín” of the Virgin, which has exuberant gesso artwork, intermingled with angels, plant motifs and Marianite symbols, and for the crypt of the Counts of Buenavista. The latter is morbidly dramatic, with white gesso artwork standing out against black backgrounds, features that give it an air of macabre theatricality.
Where the Las Pedrizas expressway (A-4; N-331) leaves Málaga there is a sign indicating the exit for Finca de la Concepción, without a doubt one of the best tropical gardens in Europe. It was built in the nineteenth century by the Marquises of Casa Loring, who erected a classic style pavilion on the site. The estate has an unusual wealth of forests, among which are distributed bridges, small waterfalls and a graceful Doric pavilion. Countless motion pictures have been filmed in this complex, and it was designated a Historic-Artistic Garden in 1943 and has been acquired by the Town Hall.
A little farther along (three kilometres on the Coín highway from where it leaves the N-340) is the Hacienda de El Retiro (El Retiro rural estate), built by Bishop Alonso de Tomás in the seventeenth century. The original garden and orchard were converted into a landscaped garden and patio in the following century by the Counts of Buenavista, and later the Count of Villalcázar would build courtly gardens, with beautiful fountains, sculptures and ornamental waterworks.
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