THE ALCAZABA OF MALAGA WILL CONTINUE AS ONE OF THE CITY'S SYMBOLS: FINALLY, AFTER YEARS OF WAITING, THE WALLS THAT HAD FALLEN PREY TO THE CENTURIES AND TO MEN'S BATTLES, HAVE BEEN REBUILT.
TEXT: ROBERTO FERNÁNDEZ.

When the chronicler of the Christian advance guard, in charge of the final assault on the Moors in Málaga. saw the amazing gardens that they had created in the city, he could commissioned. He found himself in the difficult task of recommending an attack without the least certainty that it would be the best for the city and its inhabitants. Something told him deep inside that what he was describing on his paper could well disappear in the heat of battle. He saw the fortress that the Moors had built on the Yebel Faruk hill, where the city culminates before dying in the bay.
That beauty took away his impartiality. "The sea breaks on its southern wall and the fruit burst from the outlook posts.

People laugh and enjoy themselves behind the walls, trade in the market place and wine shops; the aroma of the exquisite fried fish reaches the confines of the city. Olive, orange, almond, fig and lemon trees, gardens of orange blossom, bougainvilleas and jasmine are fed by the fountains and channels that are found throughout the Palace".
When visiting the Alcazaba of Málaga it is easy to imagine the sensations experienced by the Christian chronicler. Of that paradisiacal vision there still remain silent witnesses of great beauty, such as the Puerta de las Columnas (Door of Columns), Patio de la Alverca (Patio of the Pond), Torre del Homenaje (Tribute tower), Patio de los Naranjos (Orange tree Patio), the governor's rooms and the silos. Tranquillity and beauty invade us from its double enclosure (originally triple) in what used to be a walled Arab city.

Palace and fortress.
The Alcazaba of Málaga was the fortified palace cuilt by the Granada King Badis ben Habus in the eleventh century, in 1057 a.C.; although it was really a throrough reform that left it as we know it today. Its triple circle of walls made it one of the most inexpugnable of Al Andalus.
The first fortification surrounded the city up to the Guadalmendina river, of which there is no sign left today, as the works for the Palacio de la Aduana were begun in 1791. This charming Muslim palace had eight doors and one hundred ten towers. The wall hugged the mosque (today the site of the Málaga Cathedral), the Nazarí palace, the baths and a large suburb. The wall was built next to the Roman Theatre, from which they used several Corinthian capitals and shafts found there, forming the entrance and exit arches (Door of Columns).
The accesses were conceived with angles for a better defence (Vault Door). Without a doubt it had the expected effect, as the siege of the Alcazaba of Málaga lasted for three months and eleven days; more than enough time for a cruel succession of battles. The Numantian resistance of the armies of Hamet el Cegri did not deter the Christians, as finally on the 18th August 1487 the Catholic Monarchs, raising their standard of the Virgen de la Victoria, entered the city and their flag began to wave from the Tower of Tribute. From its glorious Muslim function, it then became one of the omnipresent symbols of the city.
The Alcazaba of Málaga connects with the Gibralfaro castle, also of Muslim origin, through one of its rings, by a passageway called "La Coracha". In Phoenician times, where now the Parador de Málaga and the Moor castle stand, was lighthouse that lent its name to the hill: Yebel Faruk or lighthouse mountain (taday Gibralfaro), named thus by the subsequent cultures that have been here.
In the outskirts, the Christians saw the beauty of the gardens that surrounded the entire fortress, such as the Puerta Oscura (Dark Door) gardens, named thus because one of the old access doors is still to be seen in this area, still showing signs of the Nazarí gardens.

A battle against time.
This walled enclusure looks stronger than it really is. It was built with an easily crumbling calcareous stone, thus it was rebuilt on several occasions. The first was in the eleventh century, which was so thorough that it is usually thought that this was when it was first built.
However, it was one of Malaga's most famous citizen of the fourteenth century, Juan Temboury, who recovered a large part of the falling fortification. Thanks to his work promoting the rebuilding, towers, patios and rooms were restored.
Now, in the twenty-first century, the Council of Culture of the Andalusian government and the Málaga Town Hall have carried out the latest works on the old stones. This allows us to contemplate centuries of culture in stone trapped in time, from the cool shade offered by the ivy entwined through the wooden pergolas.
Or to stop under the small arches of the caliphas, which Málaga also experienced in its Muslim period; or to see the immense blue of the Málaga sky from the four corners of the palace; or try to figure out how those artists achieved such spectacular plasterworks. From narrow Arab style windows the harbour, the cathedral, the historical centre and the Gibralfaro castle can all be seen, under a ceilling with precious hand-carved inscriptions that repeat over and over again: "The perpetual glory of God. The eternal glory of God".

But the height of the visit to the Alzaba of Málaga is in one's own imagination. On the top, where beautiful patios and rooms succeed each other, an aroma of green and freshness meets us, making us believe that it cannot be far from that of times gone by.
The Patio de la Alberca and the orange tree patio stimulate our imagination with the five senses, as the masterwork of their ancient inhabitants still survives.

Location:
The Alcazaba of Málaga is in the historical centre of the city, next to the Palacio de la Aduana and behind the Town Hall building. Access is through the Alcazabilla street, where there is a small information room, offering maps of the monument.

Other nearby visits:
The visit to the Alcazaba was conceived to be carried out along with the visit to the castle on the top of the Gibralfaro mountain; although at present there are independent entrances. At the foot of the southern wall are the Puerta Oscura gardens and the Town Hall gardens. Close by is the Roman Theatre, the Málaga Cathedral, the Bishop's Palace, the Plaza de la Merced, the Paseo del Parque and the Paseo de la Farola as the most important elements.