Vélez Málaga

The old market from Vélez Málaga

Vélez Málaga is the largest municipality in the eastern part of the Costa del Sol, with 75,878 inhabitants (according to Municipal Register as of January 1, 2010), with 157.88 square kilometers of territory and 22 kilometers of coastline. capital of the Comarca de la Axarquía, composed of 31 municipalities. The municipality is formed by the nuclei of Almayate, Benajarafe, Cajiz, Caleta de Vélez, Chilches, Lagos, Mezquitilla, Trapiche, Triana, Torre del Mar and Vélez Málaga.

The artistic wealth of the municipality offers the visitors multiple opportunities. A walk through its neighborhoods is a real pleasure for the senses of those who discover it. Vélez Málaga is a city to get lost in its streets. A city to walk and contemplate the centuries of history that its monuments enclose.

 

 

Points of Interest

  • Archaeological and Monumental Complex of San Pitar: This place was a quarry in the eighteenth century and from here were the stones extracted that were used for the construction of the Roman Theater and the Cathedral of Malaga, Las Casa del Cervantes de Vélez, the Phoenician necropolis of Trayamar (Almayate), as well as for the construction of numerous farmhouses and houses around Torre del Mar. In this archaeological site is the hermitage of the stonemasons situated, built in 1739, for the spiritual assistance of stonemasons. It is entirely made in ashlar masonry except the deck, which is made of wood. It is currently restored and enabled as a stone interpretation center.
  • Convento de Jesús, María y José: The church was built between 1738 and 1745, whose facade maintains the Mannerist scheme of the Carmelite churches. It is of a single ship, with important mural paintings in which they represent, in majority saints. The shrine where Our Lady of Carmen is placed on the high altar is a magnificent polychrome baroque chapel. Location: Plaza de las Carmelitas. Opening hours: from Monday to Friday: 8:00 – 9:00. Sundays: 9:00 – 10:00.
  • Monasterio de Nuestra Señora de Gracia, “Las Claras”: It is built in 1555, with a beautiful Mudejar style cloister. The church was reformed in the 18th century, because of the famous Lisbon earthquake of 1884, giving it the current Baroque appearance. Location: Calle Felix Lomas or Las Monjas.Make an appointment to visit the interior phone 650428221.
  • Teatro del Carmen, former Convent of Carmen: Founded in 1591, by the order of the Discalced Carmelites and it was one of the most important buildings in Vélez-Málaga, but in the 19th century, during the Liberal Triennium, the building was dismantled The monks were evicted in 1821, and passing the church to the property of the bishopric of Malaga and the rest to individuals and its garden became a bullring. In 1884 the church was disaffected from liturgical use and turned into a theater. The only thing that is preserved today is its cloister, Patio de la Meditación, immersed in the courtyards of the new buildings, and the theater, with an outstanding cover of Mannerist bill. It was rehabilitated at the beginning of the 1990s to recover its function as a municipal theater in the city of Vélez-Málaga. Location: Plaza del Carmen.
  • Arco Mihrab: The mihrab belonged to a Nasrid mosque, and is characterized by a rich decoration in plaster. It consists of lobed voussoirs in a radial arrangement, a profuse decoration by arabesques of ataurique and with finely patterned forms, the arch is framed by an alfiz, whose sides are covered by an epigraphic fascia with Quranic text. It is currently a tourist information point so you can visit during its opening hours: from Monday to Sunday from 10 am to 2 pm and from Monday to Saturday from 4 pm to 8 pm. Holidays in the morning. Location: Plaza de la Gloria, 2
  • Antigua Hermitage de San Sebastián: Commemorative construction, founded by the Catholic Monarchs in 1487, in honor of a “Royal Palafrenero”, Sebastián Fernández, who, according to tradition, had saved King Ferdinand’s life in a Muslim incursion by surprise in the Christian camp during the conquest of the city of Vélez-Málaga. The scene that is represented in the shield of the city appears the protagonist lying on the ground and the king on horseback that tries to defend it. Location: Arroyo de San Sebastián.
  • Capilla del Arrabal de San Sebastián: The second temple of the city linked to the “Crosses” is that of the Arrabal de San Sebastián. It is a small votive chapel, dedicated to the Cross, which commemorates the entry of King Ferdinand into the city on May 3, 1487. Location: Arroyo de San Sebastián.
  • The Old Market: this building will become a modern multipurpose space for business initiatives.
    Palacio Marques De Beniel. Today it houses also the civil affairs of the townhall.

 

  • Castle of Vélez Malaga: Located at the highest point of the city, about 80 meters above sea level. This medieval castle was erected in the 10th century and acquired its major role during the 14th and 15th centuries, being one of the most important strongholds of the kingdom Nasrid. Its determining factor is its location, dominating the valley of Vélez Málaga and wide areas of the Axarquía, and its easy natural defense that was reinforced from a walled enclosure, of about 1,500 square meters.With the French invasion, between 1808 and 1810, it was reformed and later ceased to have a military function that produced its total abandonment with consequent deterioration. Its tower and access door were rebuilt in the early 1970s.
  • Puerta Real de la Villa and the city walls: The ancient Muslim city (the Medina) was protected by a walled belt, wrapped and marked the precise boundaries of the same until the thirteenth century. In order to access or leave the urban nucleus, there were three gates (Granada, Antequera and Málaga), of which only the Puerta Real de la Villa, an the Málaga gate that was integrated into the nucleus, is preserved. Situation: Plaza de la Constitución.
  • Capilla de la Cruz del Cordero: Within the smaller buildings whose function is to remember the piety and popular religiosity, it is worth mentioning the small shrines related to the Crosses. In Vélez two of the five that existed are conserved, one of which is the Cross of the Lamb, the simplest but with greater devotion, which is located in the neighborhood that gives its name. It is formed by a brick temple, which contains a simple wooden cross. Location: Calle Cruz del Cordero.
  • Hospital de San Juan de Dios: Founded by the Catholic Monarchs in 1487, as the Hospital of San Marcos, and ceded in the seventeenth century to the order of San Juan de Dios, it has undergone important reformations to this day. It has a church with two naves, the main one with a recessed vault and a small chapel of the main altar. It preserves a beautiful mudéjar patio of brick, with a low gallery of semicircular arches with alfiz on cylindrical pillars, the high cloister has reduced arches. Currently in it is the Museum Ciudad De Vélez-Málaga MVVEL, an exhibition space that reflects the history of the municipality. Address: Plaza de San Juan de Dios.

 

  • Palacio del Marqués de Beniel (Fundación Mª Zambrano): It is the most important civil building in the city, for its grandeur and beauty. Its construction was finished in 1609, being a sober building of Mannerist junction of brick and stone, with an outstanding façade with marble cover with shields of the Molina Medrano family. Inside, its rooms are distributed raround a central courtyard with marble columns, which highlights the beautiful coffered ceiling of its imperial staircase. Today the Private Cultural Foundation “María Zambrano” is situated in the building and is organizing cultural activities and expositions. Situation: Plaza Palacio. Opening hours: from Monday to Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
  • Church San Juan Bautista: The primitive church, Gothic Mudejar, was built in 1487 on the fundaments of an old medieval mosque. At the beginning of the 16th century, it underwent a remodeling of its factory, with an extension of the temple.  Its impressive bell tower was built between 1541 and 1564. Situation: Plaza de la Constitución, 1. Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday. morning from 8:30 am to 1:00 pm and afternoon from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm.
  • Hermitage de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios: It was built in the middle of the 17th century, on the summit of Cerro de San Cristóbal, although it underwent important later reforms. At the end of the last century the painter from Vela, D. Evaristo Guerra carried out the decoration of the interior walls of the Hermitag. He used the fresco technique, painting with its characteristic style different landscapes and constructions, what has come to be called the ” transparent hermitage “, because on its walls the whole landscape and urban context of Vélez-Málaga is revealed. Opening hours: from Tuesday to Sunday, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
    On the first Saturday of the month, there is a Rosary at 8:00 p.m. The surroundings of Cerro de San Cristóbal are open every day.

 

  • Casa Cervantes: It is a 16th century manor house that is linked to different historical events in the history of the city. In the first place, D. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra stayed here in 1594, when he was a state collector for the Grand Army of Felipe II; second, in the seventeenth century the bishop of Malaga Fray Alonso de Santo Tomas was born here, alleged illegitimate son of King Felipe IV. Situation: Calle de San Francisco.
  • Fuente de la Plaza de San Francisco: Originally located in the Plaza de San Francisco, it was built in the 16th century. It has its circular pond, with highlighted boxes and in its center a bulbous shaft. Location: Calle Poeta Joaquín Lobato.
  • El Pósito: The Granary was a municipal warehouse for the storage of grain, mainly wheat, to supply the villages and lent to farmers during the most precarious moments when there was a threat of shortages and hunger. It was built in the middle of the 18th century. It is currently an Exhibition Hall and situated at the Plaza de la Constitución, 1.
  • Fuente de Felipe II o Fernando VI: Fountain of marble raised in the sixteenth century, originally located in the Plaza de la Constitución. Of its original work it has the shields of the city and Felipe II flanking it, while in 1758 it was moved to its current location, developing different compositional additions, such as the shield of Fernando VI that crowns it and the commemorative plaque of the change of location. Location: Calle Las Tiendas
  • Sala Las Carmelitas: Exhibition Hall The Carmelites. Plaza de las Carmelitas, located in the Consistorial House in Vélez-Málaga. Opening hours: Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
  • Camarín de la Virgen de la Piedad: In Vélez Málaga, piety and religiosity are popular and have made chapels or altars on facades or small shrines in every corner. This small temple that houses the images of the Virgin and the Nazarene was built in the seventeenth century and was renovated in 1778. It stands with a clear scenic intent to visually dominate the streets that accessed the Plaza de la Constitución, to remind the walker that the World and their lives could only be interpreted under a vision religious.
  • Hermitage de Santa Rosalía: This building dates the end of the XVII or beginnings of the XVIII, like assistantship of parish of Santa Maria, due to the important displacement of the population of the Villa to the zone where the Hermitage of Santa Rosalía is located.
  • Camarín de Nuestra Señora de los Desamparados: a modest chapel located in the Puerta Real de la Villa, who was a former guardroom for the protection of the gate, built approximately in the seventeenth century. Location: Plaza de la Constitución.

 

Photo Gallery Vélez Málaga

 

 

Location

 

 

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