The new Cultural Map of Malaga.
Since 2003, Malaga`s attractions have been multiplying like proverbial rabbits, the number of complexes given over to cultural events alone having doubled. The magnificent 13,000-seater Municipal Auditorium, the high-tech Exhibition and Convention Centre, the newly restored Roman theatre, the Gibralfaro Castle Visitor Centre and the galleries of the Alcazaba citadel are among the new spaces that have become the springboard for a year-long cultural calendar that goes way beyond Malaga`s famous Holy Week and August Feria; the Theatre Festival in January, the film festival in March, the Terral Festival of the beach concerts in July, the Jazz Festival in November, the star-studded seasons at the Teatro Cervantes…
The creation of large-capacity sporting arenas such as the Martin Carpena Sports Centre, the Athletics Stadium. initially aimed at touting Malaga as a secondary site in Madrid`s (unsuccessful) bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games – have put the city on the sporting map, too, and it now hosts such events as the European Athletics Championship, the Oxford-Cambridge-Malaga regatta and the start of the Spanish Cycling Tour.
Since Malaga announced it was bidding for the title of 2016 European Capital of Culture, there has been no stopping it, to which battalions of construction cranes forproperties, museums, Metro and other buildingon the skyline stand testimony. The Cinderella city has found her fairy godmother and will go to the ball – though no longer in a pumpkin carriage. The new AVE high speed train from Madrid now pulls in to a smart new Maria Zambrano railway station, dressed to kill in polished marble and rubbing shoulders with the swish Vialia leisure mail with it trendy cafes, shops, and cutting-edge Hotel Barceló, inviting travellers to linger.
In two years time, Pablo Ruiz Picasso Airport (Malaga International Airport) will have a second runway for taking the new large Airbus 380 and third terminal building ready to handle 20 million passengers a year. Work is well underway on a new Metro system that will take the hell out of driving through the city centre and provide tourists with seamless underground transports to points of interest. Malaga is growing along the coast to Torremolinos with new urbanisations of new deployments with apartments and villas, to the east with luxury’s villas on the hills along the coast.
New Museums and the new port in Malaga.
New Museums, spruced up gardens, funky shops and restaurants are also conspiring to draw visitors by air, road, and rail and since the remodelling of the harbour, by sea. Malaga has blossomed, like its ubiquitous orange trees in springtime, into a cosmopolitan port of call and it is quite usual, these days, to find the narrow streets of the old town heaving with ships passengers of all nationalities, obediently trooping after their guides in crocodile formation.
The new cruiser port has doubled its capacity with the construction of a new dock, capable of handling five luxury liners and 6,000 passengers in a single day, including visits from A-list ships like the Queen Mary II and Queen Victoria. The opening of the new terminal building in Malaga 2008 is the first phase of a project that will rival London`s Docklands and bring massive new investment benefits to the city, providing new cultural and green spaces such as the future Palm grove of Surprises and the Farola Lighthouse Marina project which will transform the quayside with 60 premises devoted to leisure, shopping and restaurants.
10 flagship projects in Malaga’s bid for 2016´s European City of Culture.
No less than 10 “flagship projects” were devised to ensure the city met all the requirements for its unfortunately unsuccessful bid to be 2016´s European City of Culture. These include plans to increase the number of cultural centres to 31, devoted to everything from archaeology and heritage to fine arts and transport, 15 of them grouped tighter in the same area, marking Malaga one of the cities with the highest density of museums in its historic quarter.
Already a reality, the MIMMA (Malaga Interactive Music Museum) houses over 300 instruments from different periods, countries and civilisations and is the only one of its kind in Europe. Another new attraction is the Flamenco Museum in Calle Ramon Franquelo which showcases memorabilia connected with the history of flamenco. In the Plaza de la Biedmas, a new Museum and Wine Interpretation Centre is being built which will double as the headquarters of the Regulating Council and a forum for training, exhibitions and wine tastings.
Brotherhoods Museum, Music Hall, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and more..
Also coming soon will be a brotherhoods Museum, promoting the magnificent legacy of the hermanidads and the part they play in the Holy Week celebrations; a Music Hall which will be home to Malaga Philharmonic Orchestra; and a car museum at the old Tabacalera tobacco plant.
Work has also begun on one of the most exciting projects since the Picasso Museum opened its door, and which will give Malaga its own Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, a sister to its famous namesake in Madrid. Close to the Picasso Museum, the 16th century Villalon Palace is being restored to house works from Baroness Thyssen`s private collection, including paintings by leading Spanish artists such Zurbaran and Sorolla.
Over the coming years; there are plans to exploit all these new facilities with major new properties and new events that will be a focus for tourism, such as a festival to celebrate the life of Picasso and other leading artists; a Malaga Food and Wine Biennial; and the promotion of language tourism – for which Malaga is now the second destination in Spain.
