The unfinished tower
The arm halted in 1782 — a lack guarded as identity.
Euku — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0
"La Manquita" — the little one-armed lady, in Málaga's affection — is their single-towered cathedral: the south tower has stood unfinished since 1782 when the building money ran out (legend says to fund American independence — documents say roads), the lack becoming a beloved identity the city refuses to complete whenever it is proposed. Rising over the great mosque after 1487 and taking two and a half centuries, it gathered Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque — its interior among Andalusian Renaissance's most sumptuous: palm-vaulted domes at forty metres, and an ebony-and-jujube choir where Pedro de Mena carved his tenderest faces. The rooftop tour (higher ticket, timed) climbs among the domes for the centre-and-harbour view — the visit's finest modern addition. The old mosque's orange court survives beside it as a scented patio.
The arm halted in 1782 — a lack guarded as identity.
Ebony and jujube with forty carved faces — Andalusian woodcarving's summit.
Stone fans at forty metres — the southern Renaissance's sky.
Calle Molina Lario 9, 29015 Málaga
OXO Video Game MuseumA museum of the history of video games in central Málaga, counted among the larg2 minutes walk4.8
Museo Revello de ToroA museum devoted to the work of the Málaga painter Félix Revello de Toro, in a s2 minutes walk4.7
Museo Picasso MálagaIn his mother city Picasso's declared dream came true: "a museum for my works in3 minutes walk4.2
Museum of MálagaMálaga's provincial museum, bringing an archaeology section and a fine arts sect3 minutes walk4.6
Carmen Thyssen MuseumAn art museum in the Palacio de Villalón, a sixteenth-century house in old centr4 minutes walk4.5Completion has been proposed and popularly defeated every time: the lack became the story, the name, the affection — Málaga loves her little one-armed lady as she is. A fine lesson that identity can live in the flaw, not the finish.