MALAGA'S ALCAZABA

von María Dolores Arrózpide Liceaga , Malaga 20.2.2005

This walled Arabic fortress was built between the IX and XI centuries. Inside, it is home to a palatial residence.

The most interesting feature of this particular Malaga monument is that it tells us much about Arabic culture. It is also the most significant piece of military architecture to be found anywhere in Andalusia.

Standing outside, just a few metres from the entrance, we can admire the Alcazaba in all its glory. It consists of a series of superimposed brick and stone cubes built using Roman remains. In the midst of these cubic structures, masses of green vegetation provide a striking contrast with the ochre tones of the building itself.

We continue along the stony path before entering a large wooden door. We begin our ascent along a series of zigzagging walled passageways with small towers at their corners. Expecting an easier, more direct entrance, we are surprised at having to wend our way through so much brick and stone. Our guide, however, explains that this complicated architectural layout was designed to provide protection for the fortress: any invaders attempting to gain access via the main entrance would find their progress barred by attacks from the aforementioned towers. The outer defences, meanwhile, consist of a series of walls built on rocky outcrops.

Encountering some Roman remains on our way, we come to a spacious garden area which affords attractive views of the Rector’s Office, the Town Hall and city’s main park, all of which are just a stone’s throw from LEXIS, our Spanish language school. Our guide tells us to look out for the roses and other ornamental plants in the flowerbeds. In Arabic times, these flowerbeds were primarily used to cultivate edible fruit and vegetables. An Arabic garden is essentially a practical, productive orchard. An appreciation of the importance of water to human survival is something that the inhabitants of desert climes have always carried in the blood.

A more open path than those that have gone before now leads us to the most distinguished part of Malaga’s Alcazaba, where, in a style far more modest than that of Granada’s magnificent Alhambra, a series of rooms built around patios with water features provide definitive proof of just how pleasurable it must have been to live in a location such as this.

In Malaga’s Alcazaba, as in day-to-day life in Arabic culture, simplicity is the watchword. The visitor is enveloped by a sense of well-being: the sound of the fountains, the song of the birds, the rustle of the vegetation that intertwines with the residence itself. If we also imagine the rich, brightly-coloured silks that once adorned its rooms, then we can really begin to appreciate the full sensuality of this now distant culture.

In the Palaces, we will find a display of archaeological exhibits as well as the Alcazaba’s former mosque.