Monuments to visit Andalusia

At the foot of the Alcazaba, this Palacio de la Aduana (Customs Palace), projected in 1788 and finished in 1826, is a neo-classical building constructed in the way of the Italian Renaissance palaces with four spans around a central patio surrounded by portico. A former headquarters of the Royal Tobacco Factory and sub-delegation of the provincial government, since late December 2015, he has welcomed the last large pinacothe opened in Malaga after a renovation of the premises through an investment of € 40 million from the state. And now its 18,000 m ² present collections from two institutions in Malaga, the Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum of Provincial Archeology. As such, it becomes one of the first 15 museums in Spain and the largest in Andalusia. The site offers visitors a vast pictorial collection of 2,000 works made in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries with one of the best collections of Spanish paintings of the nineteenth century and works by Sorolla, Carlos de Haes, Federico Madrazo, Esquivel, Vicente López Portaña or Ramón Casas. There are also a number of paintings made by the Malaga school, including those of the most famous members: Moreno Carbonero, Enrique Simonet, Muñoz Degrain, José Nogales or Bernardo Ferrándiz. As well as a collection of Spanish modern art until the 1950 s, with works by Rafael Canogar, Juan Barjola, Óscar Domínguez or Josep Guinovart.

In the archeological fund, the place has over 15,000 pieces covering a period from the viiith century BC to the medieval period, and will be able to admire many pieces from excavations carried out by the University of Malaga in recent years. As examples, there are two particularly impressive pieces: the grave of a warrior, dated from the life of the century BC and found intact in the historic center of the city in 2012, or a mosaic representing the birth of Venus and found in the municipality of Cártama in the 1950 s.

This Horloges Museum is one of the most beautiful collections in Europe (more than 300 pieces). Modernised by the contribution of special effects and holograms, it is part of the Palacio del Tiempo (time Palace) belonging to the thematic complex of the Atalaya, with gardens and also includes the Misterio de Jerez (the Mystery of Jerez), a light and light show illustrating the world of wine in Jerez.

Present town hall (ayuntamiento), this noble striped palace (ochre and straw), built between 1853 and 1870 in a néomudéjar style, was the splendid summer residence of Prince Antonio de Orleans and his wife Luisa Fernanda de Borbón, infante of Spain and Duchess of Montpensier.

In addition to a small castle, ruins of a village of different ages dating back to the th century BC.

Near the mosque, this museum of the Diocese presents a collection of religious art in the Diocesan palace: paintings, sculptures, tapestries, incunables…

The castle dominates the village and roads leading to Sierra from the valley. The square tower was built on the rock. A small circuit leads to the top, where there is a beautiful panorama overlooking the village and surrounding areas. If the stairs are shy, just a few steps away from the Place de la Paix, at the foot of the tower, where you will dominerez the vast olive groves that extend to the foot of Sierra.

This Arab atalaya of the 1126 th century dominates the city and its surroundings, and it is close to the battle of Arnizol in. In clear weather, you can see the heights of the Sierra Nevada.

Built in 1897, it is a copy of the Venetian Palace Vendramin Calergi. A part is reserved for the socios, but another is accessible. There is a restaurant and bar, open from 10:00. 

It was the seat of the electricity plant, built in 1897 by an architect of Puente Genil, Rodrigo García. It owes its name to the sculpture of the Roman goddess Aurora crowning the building. It will also be noted its facade with neo-mudéjares echoes.

It is on the highest point in the city, about 80 meters above sea level, that was built this fortress in the th century. But it was between the th and th centuries that it reached its peak by becoming one of the most important fortresses of the kingdom of Nasrid in Granada. Today, you can only see the parts of its old wall and its dungeon, torre del en, rebuilt in the 70 s. In spite of this, there is a beautiful view of the city, but also the plain of Vélez.

Close to the palace of the Marquises of Beniel, it is an old seigniorial house from the beginning of the 16th century, in Mudejar style. Note its beautiful exterior façade and, inside, a square courtyard surrounded by a gallery with brick columns. Oral tradition tells that the writer Miguel de Cervantes stayed there. And that this is where the Bishop of Málaga, Fray Alonso de Santo Tomas, the presumed illegitimate son of King Philip IV, was born in the seventeenth century. The house now houses the official language school of Vélez-Málaga.

Rediscovered accidentally in 1903 in the gardens of Los Santos Mártires, after various periods of excavation and restoration, these Moorish baths have only recently been visited. Built in the 10th century under the Caliphate of Al-Hakam II, for his personal enjoyment, they follow the classical Roman order: cold, temperate and warm rooms, the vaults are illuminated by natural light penetrating through characteristic star-shaped skylights.

The current building of the town hall is located on the former convent of the carmen of Granada. A 16th and 17th century convent organized around two cloisters, the new and the old, the church being leaning against the new cloister on the northeast side. Their destruction after the defamation of Mendizábal, a process of secularization of the church's property in the 19th century, created the current space of Plaza del Carmen. Of the old building, only the new cloister remains, inside the town hall. You cannot visit it, at most you can take a look at it by going to the city's tourist office, located on the ground floor of the town hall. It is the daily starting point for many tapeo tours to Calle Navas and its surroundings, and is also the site of many demonstrations, protests and celebrations, since the arrival of the New Year is celebrated there, for example, with all the necessary grapes, cotillion and fireworks.

Here is another monument that will serve as a landmark for your strolls in Granada since it is nearby that you take the bus to go to the Realejo or the Alhambra and that it is at the junction of the two most important and most commercial streets of the city. Created in 1892 by the Valencian sculptor Mariano Benlliure, one of the most important sculptors of that time, with the aim of commemorating the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of the Americas. Illustrating one of the most important moments in the history of Spain, this monument consists of a two-metre sculpture of Isabella the Catholic, sitting on a beautiful Gothic chair, and another two-metre sculpture, that of Christopher Columbus, kneeling to submit his projects to the Queen before embarking on his journey to India. Made of bronze by the "lost wax" system, this set is placed on a pedestal made of Sierra Elvira stones.