Alcazaba de Málaga

The Alcazaba of Málaga (from the Arabic al-qaṣbah, قصبة, al qasbah, 'citadel') is a palatial fortification from the Islamic period, built over an earlier fortification of Phoenician-Punic origin. It lies on the slopes of Gibralfaro hill, in an elevated position yet adjoining and joined to the historic centre of the city, which was the former medina of Mālaqa, and at whose summit stands the Gibralfaro Castle.

It occupied the eastern end of the city's now-vanished walled enclosure, so that its southern, western and northern fronts lay within the walls. Its current surface area of 15,000 square metres does not even reach half the size it had at its heyday, as the surviving historical plans demonstrate.

According to the restoration architect Leopoldo Torres Balbás, the Alcazaba of Málaga is the prototype of military architecture of the Taifa period, 11th century, with its double walled enclosure and large number of fortifications, its only parallel being the Crac de los Caballeros, a fortress built in Syria by the Crusaders between the 12th and 13th centuries.

This palace-fortress is one of the city's historic monuments, a space much visited for combining history and beauty in a single enclosure.

Dating from the Muslim period, it is situated at the foot of Gibralfaro hill, where the Andalusian defensive castle stands, to which it was linked by a passageway protected by walls called La Coracha; next to the Roman Theatre of Málaga and opposite the Palacio de la Aduana, it offers the chance to see, within just a few metres, the union of Roman, Andalusian and Renaissance cultures, which makes this corner a very special place.

In 1931, the Alcazaba was declared a Historic-Artistic Monument,

and so it is a property of cultural interest with the category of monument.