Description

Malaga is an attractive city that will astonish the visitors due to its historical monuments ant its cosy environment. Its millennial history arose from the first sailors and traders who reached the costs from the east Mediterranean two thousand years ago of which we still can appreciate many traces: the Roman theatre, the Moorish fortress La Alcazaba. We can also admire the stateliness Renaissance Cathedral and then stroll around the nearby lively streets with their especial nineteenth-century environment. The city centre is a combination of its ancient Islamic outline -the Calle Granada or Calle Freca are examples- and the urban reforms of the 19th century like the Calle Larios, main axis of the Historical centre.

We would like to thank the Malaga Tourist Board for the text and photographs provided.
Visit: www.malagaturismo.com

Highlights

Gibralfaro Castle
Gibralfaro Castle was built in the 14th century when they realised about the need to build this fortress to protect La Alcazaba that was defenceless from the hill. The fortress has many defensive features that were an innovation for Al-Andalus in that period like the tower called Torre Blanca, the adaptation of the rampart perimeter to the terrain by zig zagged walls and an angled gateway. Also the defensive barbican that surrounds the fortress must be mentioned, it forms the Coracha, a walled way that leads to La Alcazaba with an original zig zagged construction. The Castillo continued to be maintained and used by the military until 1925, a total of 438 years.

Cathedral of La Encarnación
The Cathedral is on the former site where the Mosque was during the eight centuries of the Muslim occupation. The construction began in the 16th century and lasted until the 18th century by without finishing it, the main façade and the south tower is uncompleted, so it has been popularly called La Manquita -the one-armed-. Inside the Cathedral, it stands out the 42 sculptures of the choir made by Pedro de Mena and two organs with more than 4,000 tubes from the 18th century. We can also visit the Cathedral Museum inside the temple.

La Alcazaba
La Alcazaba is a overwhelming building which most part of its structure belongs to the 11th century. It was the palace-fortress where most of the city Moor governors lived. It is sited on a hill and perfectly adapted to the topography with its two walled constructions. The lower part completely surrounds the upper part where the Palace is. There is a lift inside it to get there from the Calle Guillén Sotelo, just behind the Town Hall.

The Roman Theatre
The Roman Theatre is located just below La Alcazaba. It was not discovered until 1951 when a garden was going to be built at the entrance of the Culture Centre. The theatre was constructed during the Augustus period and from the 3rd century it was used for the Moors as a quarry to restore La Alcazaba. Inside it there are Roman capitals and columns. Currently we can see the entrance gallery to the proscenium -stage- that used to be covered by a dome, part of a the 15 metre orchestra, the bleachers with 3 terraces, a 31 metre radius and 16 metre high and also the vomitorium or access gates to the bleachers.