When we hear about Marbella, we think about celebrity magazines, famous people, show-offs and mega parties from people with lots of money… or at least they pretend. But look, in this audioguide, you will have the chance to learn some things that, maybe, will give you a different idea of this place.
read more
When we hear about Marbella, we think about celebrity magazines, famous people, show-offs and mega parties from people with lots of money… or at least they pretend. But look, in this audioguide, you will have the chance to learn some things that, maybe, will give you a different idea of this place.
Because Marbella does have a history. In 1485 the Catholic Monarchs conquered the city from the Arabs, and way before that, much earlier, there was a Roman settlement of which there are still remains and a long Muslim occupation that left fortifications like those that can be seen by Calle del Arte and San Bernabe Square, in the old town, which seem to be from the tenth century, when the Umayyad caliphate was in full swing.
The Christian period also left its mark on the artistic heritage of Marbella: the Town Hall, the Hermitage of Veracruz and the Chapel of San Juan de Dios are from the sixteenth century. The fountain of the Plaza de Los Naranjos is from the seventeenth century, and the Church of the Incarnation is a baroque jewel from the eighteenth century.
All these things have survived the passing of time and the Berber pirates. For an extended part of this story, almost no one dared to live on the coast as they were terrified of the Corsairs from Algeria, who occasionally appeared in their galleys to burn, rip open and kidnap everything that was put on their way.
This region lived hundreds of years in that perpetual fear, and if you go to Puerto Banús, you will see a tower that, after being modified a bit, has remained as a legacy of those times of intensive surveillance. Up until the nineteenth century the tower fulfilled its function, which makes it clear that, with more glamour or with less, Marbella was able to stand firm when the Turkish panic was leaving the Mediterranean coasts deserted.
With things a little calmer in the nineteenth century, Málaga was one of the first cities with industrial iron factories, and there is still a trace from that period in the neighbourhood of Angel. But in the second half of the twentieth century thanks to its excellent climate, some celebrities came and with them more followed, suddenly the site was full of rich people and impressive yachts. Some of them, a paradox of life, owned by Arab sheikhs who brought smiles and oil money instead of swords and desire to fight. Significant progress in history, don’t you think?
