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MALAGA Travel Destination: The Bright Foyer of Spain

Roman ruins, Moorish castles, grand cathedrals, art museums, beach side cafes and more, Hugh & Colleen Gantzer discover a slice of Spain in Malaga. The Romans, famed for their love of a good life, must have done what we did, in Malaga. Read more Travel Updates at American Express here....
We visited the ruins of an amphitheatre built by those ancient conquerors; and then soared up by lift to the heights of the Moorish Alcazaba Castle perched on Mount Gibralfaro . Moors from North Africa had ruled much of Spain for almost eight hundred years. Generation after generation of Spanish Muslims had created some of the most impressive monuments of Europe . The Alcabaza is not the most striking of their legacies, but it gave us a fair idea of what we could expect in the better preserved Moorish monuments of this land. It also offered great eagle's eye views of Malaga , massed intriguingly at our feet.

Descending from the castle we strolled past rustling palms and spreading fig trees alive with birds, to an art gallery dedicated to the greatest modern son of Malaga . He was baptised Pablo Ruiz but after he fell under the influence of the French painter Matisse, he took his mother's surname and added a‘s'. The world knows him as Pablo Picasso. We wandered slowly through displays of the works of this eccentric genius who changed the face of modern art. Although occasionally based on skewed perceptions of reality, he brought his own powerful vision to art and realigned the mind-set of an entire generation of artists. We visualised Picasso as a child, painting a strictly representative seascape and signing it P. Luiz. It was a journey through the mind and heart of one of the most iconic figures of our age and we began to understand why he did, what he did.

The Picasso Museum gave us an insight into the modern artistic heritage of Malaga . Many 20th Century writers like James Michener and Ernest Hemmingway had lived and written their famous novels in Malaga but the town also has a deeper, older, tradition of art. We visited a museum of one of the Brotherhoods. These unique associations are part club part semi-secret groups of Catholics, dedicated to preserving their ancient traditions. During the Holy Week of Easter, commemorating the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, they carry heavy platforms with gold and silver thrones, bearing superb statues of the suffering Christ and his grieving mother. The chosen male member of every family has his allotted place on the massive beams supporting the shoulder-borne platforms. And there are ceremonial uniforms, crosses and all the other regalia associated with such revered, semi-religious, customs. There are a number of such Brotherhoods and though we did not see this remarkable procession, we did spend a long time walking around the glittering and very beautiful exhibits of this solemn ritual. It resembles the sacred Rath Yatra of Puri and those of the temples of Goa at Shivaratri.

Unlike many of the other countries of Europe, Spain is still deeply rooted in Christianity, specifically Catholicism. This seminal involvement in their faith resembles, in many respects, the way Hinduism permeates the lives of Hindus in our land. And as major temples, particularly those in Tamil Nadu, are repositories of the best of art, so too, in Spain , their churches are treasure-troves of artistic expression.

The Cathedral de la Encarnacion was built over the 16th and 18th Centuries, on the remains of the Mosque-Aljama: the Jama Masjid of the Moors. Among the many outstanding features are its twin organs with 4,000 pipes, dating back to the 18th Century and still going loud and strong and the 42 sculptures on its choir stalls. There is also a fascinating Cathedral Museum . Interestingly, the Cathedral is known, locally, as La Manquita: the One Armed Lady. Its South tower was never built because the money collected for it was, apparently, sent to support the Americans in their War of Independence against the British.
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