SEVEN MUSEUMS
Palacio Episcopal
(The Bishop's Palace)
Centre Pompidou Málaga
(The Malaga Center Pompidou)
2015
2015
"Designed by Francisco Javier Pérez de la Fuente and Juan Antonio Marín Malavé, the architects of the Malaga Local Authority Urban Planning Area, and more specifically the Architecture and Infrastructures Department, which is responsible for most of the municipal building and civil works in the city."
(http://www.arcvision.org/centre-pompidou-malaga-2/?lang=en)
"Two resources have been used to resolve the initial difficult matter of the very limited presence of the existing building within the public space: using industrial materials that work in harmony with the port environment in which it is located and an express reference to binomial art-technique using the rhythms of punch cards used by Joseph-Marie Jacquard (1752-1834) in their looms from 1805."
(The architects.)
O.K. Why?
To add to the mixed storyline, I discovered this photo on the internet, showing the original design and construction of the cube. Notice something missing?
"The simple shape of a transparent cube, built with steel and glass, announces (to) us what will be our passage through the facilities, a simple enjoyment where paramount are the works of art exhibited, for the inauguration Daniel Buren was commissioned for the recreation of the Cube…"
(http://theluxonomist.es/2015/05/12/the-translucent-concrete/juan-jose-perez-monzon)
This explains to me why on close inspection, I saw that the colored panels are actually thin sheets of translucent vinyl applied to the clear glass. How long these will last is anyone's guess. Unless it is simply an installation for a specific limited time period? Hopefully, not.
As a transparent glass cube all I am reading is a reductive and not at all successful copy of Pei's glass pyramid addition to the Louvre in Paris. The colored panels bring the cube alive, actually make the structure a landmark (particularly given its somewhat awkward positioning in the less-than-interesting late-20th century urban and landscape and hardscape), and makes the cube into a work of art in itself. Besides, it is fun.
(Two drawings by the architects as published in ArchDaily.com on 13:00 - 28 May, 2016.)
You might have noted that the quote above regarding the clear cube is actually from an article about transparent concrete. The story behind that?
"FyM, HeidelbergCement’s subsidiary in Spain, contributed to the construction of the new Centre Pompidou in Malaga by donating 250 square meters of i.light, the transparent cement expressly conceived by i.lab, HeidelbergCement’s Research and Innovation Center, for the making of the Italian Pavilion at Expo Shanghai 2010."
(https://www.heidelbergcement.com/en/centre-pompidou-malaga)
You can see the sort of stippled concrete in the above photo (beneath the interior window), in the photo below from the manufacturer, and in some of the further photos.
What is inexplicable to me is why the interior courtyard which is enclosed above by the glass cube is a relative no-man's land. There is no public access to it and, as far as I can tell from the museum posts, not meant to be used for any sort of exhibits. Why not??? This is a no-brainer. I sincerely hope someone can tell me that I am totally wrong.
Now mounted throughout the museum:
A look at modern ideas of Utopia...
"It was 502 years ago that Tomás Moro imagined a half-moon shaped island, whose inhabitants shared the work and the produce they grew, chose their representatives in meetings and refused to resort to violence to resolve disputes. He called it Utopia, and since then the name has symbolised something as ideal as it is unattainable. It is also the focus of the new collection at the Pompidou Centre in Malaga, which ...will continue until the end of 2020."
(http://www.surinenglish.com/what-to-do/201712/11/pompidou-unveils-collection-with-20171211151605.html)
(It also is constantly revolving...)
"Flock of Sheep"
"‘Flock of Sheep’ by Françoise-Xavier Lalanne 1965-1979), among other thought-provoking creations which reflect the hopes, ideals and disappointments of ‘Modern Utopias’..."
Adding to the issue of what is art is the stepped gift shop - a passable art exhibit in itself - in which you can buy some sheep that although not quite the same as the art, are a close second.
"Radiant City"
"Utopia, "no-place" in its etymological meaning, finds in the city the space par excellence where to carry out the construction of that ideal state to which it aspires, making architecture and urbanism its favorite fields of action.
Conscious of the power that society has over the material structure that shelters it, the search for the ideal city has occupied artists and intellectuals, from the Platonic Republic and the island of Utopia by Tomás Moro (1516) to the community projects of the Socialists...
With the celebration of the advances of technology, the builders of the new era that opened after the post-war bet for a mechanized production, functional and serial, modernist dream of universal happiness that incarnated like no one Le Corbusier, prophet of that "spirit new".
Its radiant city, which would welcome a purified, standardized and rational community, lodged in a "machine to inhabit" organized according to rules of universal harmony, omitted the chaos and plurality inherent in the city.
Leaving a rather dystopian and totalitarian impression, his model has been widely answered by artists and architects who have privileged diversity and individual freedom."
As part of the exhibit, French conceptual artist Pierre Huyghe's 2004 film, "This is Not a Time for Dreaming" is being shown on a loop. Huyghe's puppet opera retells the history of architect Le Corbusier and his struggle to build Harvard University's Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts (U.S.A.). The allegorical fable explores the fate of creative commissions within the institution of a university. Puppet Heap was chosen to build multiple character marionettes.
"Blobterre, created by the designer Matali Crasset, is composed of a multisensory space for the exploration, creation and imagination of the author. Matali is the creator of “Blobterre”, a world you can enter in order to hear and feel nature and its constantly evolving species.
The exhibition is about the fictitious “Blobterres” that grow in cities. These are green spaces that have gained ground against the asphalt and that offer a breath of freedom in the middle of an urban space. The messenger Fl’om (a child which is half-human and half-flower) is installed in the centre and explains the plant world."
Located in an area known as Soho de Málaga, on the banks of the Guadalmedina River, CAC is housed in the city's former wholesale food market building which has a vast warehouse space of some 6000 metres (63,584 sq. ft.). The original market's construction project began in 1927. The building was designed by Luis Gutiérrez Soto...
In 1987, the market was declared to be a 'Bien de Interés Cultural' (Item of Cultural Interest)....In 2000 the old market building began to be converted into the museum for which it is used today. The conversion work was undertaken by Miguel Ángel Día. The interior section of the building was designed by the architects Antonio Álvarez Gil and Salvador García García. Today, just under half of the space in the building is used for the exhibition and display of the museum's collection.
(http://www.spanish-art.org/spanish-museums-centre-of-contemporary-art-of-malaga.html)
"Stephan Balkenhol was born in 1957 in Fritzlar (Hesse) in Germany. Today he lives and works between Karlsruhe, Germany and Meisenthal, France.Balkenhol, an internationally renowned German artist who has been concentrating on the human figure for over two decades, began his sculptural process of figurative wood carving in the mid-eighties – as a response to the abstract, minimalist and conceptual approaches of the Hamburg School of Fine Arts where he studied from 1976 to 1982 under Ulrich Rückriem. His first figurative wooden sculptures from 1983 of a larger-than-life naked man and woman placed the human figure at the centre of his work and reintroduced the figure to contemporary sculpture. In the 1990s he added animals and hybrids, and more recently architecture to his artistic vocabulary. His practice also comprises drawings and photographs."
(https://www.ropac.net/artist/stephan-balkenhol)
Constituted in 1973, the museum opened on 12 December 2016 in the impressive Palacio de la Aduana (Custom's Palace). It has brought together the former Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes (Provincial Museum of Fine Arts) and Museo Arqueológico Provincial. The 18,000 square metre museum has eight rooms, the first five dedicated to archaeology and the other three to fine arts. There are just over 2,000 pieces in the fine arts collection and more than 15,000 in the archaeology collection.
(http://www.andalucia.com/cities/malaga/museum)
"The project is noteworthy because of its respect for the values of the historic building, while at the same time incorporating a contemporary architectural language, especially in the design of the roof, which reconstructs the original image of the building with a two-sided roof. It is similar in volume to the one lost in 1922, but executed in a contemporary style. In this way, the historic status of the building is respected and enhanced and at the same facilitates the institution's installation in the landmark, by providing a suitable spatial layout and a logical arrangement of the access points."
http://www.museosdeandalucia.es/cultura/museos/MMA/index.jsp?redirect=S2_2.jsp&lng=en
I would have liked to tour the new addition, but it was closed, apparently in the throes of a restaurant build-out. I cannot imagine that the restaurant will occupy the entire space, but like the rest of the museum, only a small portion is actually in use as a museum.
One disconcerting design decision was the selection of dark walnut for many of the elements of the renovation interventions. I assume the architects thought this was a timeless and elegant solution. Unfortunately, the overall effect is simply gloomy. It made the rather minimalist and predictable white marble hall below almost sing.
I remember being so put off by the architecture of the El Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid - another palace/renovation-addition project - that I barely remember the art, a world-renowned collection. This was doubly surprising because apparently there was a multi-nation feeding frenzy for the Baron's collection. The top bid by the Getty museum in Los Angeles was reportedly rejected because of the dislike of the proposed architecture of the required new building.
The architecture for the Madrid palace renovation project was awarded to Rafael Moneo, whose name has appeared in these postings a number of time. That portion is more about re-fitting than making a new architectural statement. The team of architects that led the Madrid addition project were Manuel Baquero, Robert Brufau and the BOPBAA architecture studio. One wonders how bad the Getty design could have been, compared to what they accepted.
Here in Malaga, I was similarly disappointed (read, bored) by the renovation and new addition. You get the sense that the design and work was done "on the cheap." This actually might be closer to the truth about the lack of any excitement in the design, since in both instances the collectors were looking to the State to fund their museums.
The best that can be said for this one is that the building does nothing to detract you from the art itself - which in today's wild museum design environment is saying an awful lot. The art itself is mostly second-tier, so you do not need to feel particularly guilty about not remembering much of it either. On the other hand, it serves as an interesting visual encyclopedia of 19th-century Spain in oils.
(Photo: http://www.malagaturismo.com/en/tourist-resources/detail/carmen-thyssen-museum-malaga/82)
A few, rather grand, original ceilings are still visible and have apparently been restored. They are all poorly lit and badly showcased.
The current temporary exhibit:
"The Flower Market," by Jose Benillure Gil (1855-1937), a Valencian artist. Our Serrano Towers, one of the two extant gates to the city, are in the background.
For me, at least, the views to the outside of the museum were as interesting as the art inside, if not more so.
The Family Tree / Gossip edited from several sources:
María del Carmen Rosario Soledad Cervera y Fernández de la Guerra, Dowager Baroness Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon et Impérfalva (in German: María del Carmen Rosario Soledad Freifrau von Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon, popularly known as Carmen "Tita" Cervera or Carmen "Tita" Thyssen) (1943-), is a Spanish philanthropist, socialite and art collector.
She was Miss Spain in 1961 and was married firstly as his fifth wife in 1965 to Lex Barker (the American film actor who played Tarzan after Johnny Weissmuller), secondly in 1975 to Espartaco Santoni, divorcing in 1978, and thirdly as his fifth wife in 1985, to Baron hans Henrich Thyssen-Bornemisza.
Hans Henrik Ágost Gábor, Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon et Impérfalva (1921 - 2002), a billionaire industrialist and art collector was a Dutch-born Swiss citizen with a Hungarian title, a legal resident of Monaco for tax purposes, with a declared second residency in the United Kingdom, but in actuality a long-time resident of Spain, and son of a German father and a Hungarian and English-American mother (related to Daniel M. Frost and John Kerry).
"We will find the most important urban civil monument of the 19th century in the centre of the Plaza de la Merced; it was designed by the city architect Rafael Mitjana in honour of General Torrijos. (...and installed in 1842)
This funerary monument was erected in memory of José María Torrijos and 48 of his companions who were shot on the beach of San Andrés (on 11 December, 1831) by order of Ferdinand VII (1784 – 1833). Initially they wanted to erect the monument where they were put to death but they decided to use the Plaza de Riego, as the square was formerly known at that time, instead.
The base or pedestal of the monument was used as a crypt where the remains of these defenders of freedom now rest. The monument consists of two parts, the first of them with dedications and the second with the names of the deceased. An obelisk decorated with a bronze laurel wreath and another one at the top of the pyramid complete the monument.
Its construction was funded by popular donations and raffles. A fact that is worth noting about the Monument to Torrijos is that the upper block of stone was slightly displaced by the earthquake of 1884. This was not put right during the restoration as it was considered part of the history of the city."
(http://www.malagaturismo.com/en/tourist-resources/detail/torrijos-monument/68)
Another of his works. "Dadi Dreucol" is also well-represented in the arte callejero de Valencia.
I am not sure if the following tile art is sponsored by the city or has been created as more traditional arte callejero. I also am not sure what the panels signify, if anything. They are very well executed and are placed in a way that speaks to permanent installation.
A nondescript contemporary building with an abstract art-inspired painted facade perhaps influenced by the scene outside its windows?
Conscious of the power that society has over the material structure that shelters it, the search for the ideal city has occupied artists and intellectuals, from the Platonic Republic and the island of Utopia by Tomás Moro (1516) to the community projects of the Socialists...
With the celebration of the advances of technology, the builders of the new era that opened after the post-war bet for a mechanized production, functional and serial, modernist dream of universal happiness that incarnated like no one Le Corbusier, prophet of that "spirit new".
Its radiant city, which would welcome a purified, standardized and rational community, lodged in a "machine to inhabit" organized according to rules of universal harmony, omitted the chaos and plurality inherent in the city.
Leaving a rather dystopian and totalitarian impression, his model has been widely answered by artists and architects who have privileged diversity and individual freedom."
As part of the exhibit, French conceptual artist Pierre Huyghe's 2004 film, "This is Not a Time for Dreaming" is being shown on a loop. Huyghe's puppet opera retells the history of architect Le Corbusier and his struggle to build Harvard University's Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts (U.S.A.). The allegorical fable explores the fate of creative commissions within the institution of a university. Puppet Heap was chosen to build multiple character marionettes.
"Blobterre"
"Blobterre, created by the designer Matali Crasset, is composed of a multisensory space for the exploration, creation and imagination of the author. Matali is the creator of “Blobterre”, a world you can enter in order to hear and feel nature and its constantly evolving species.
The exhibition is about the fictitious “Blobterres” that grow in cities. These are green spaces that have gained ground against the asphalt and that offer a breath of freedom in the middle of an urban space. The messenger Fl’om (a child which is half-human and half-flower) is installed in the centre and explains the plant world."
Centro de Arte Contemporáneo:
CAC Málaga
(Contemporary Art Center of Málaga)
Located in an area known as Soho de Málaga, on the banks of the Guadalmedina River, CAC is housed in the city's former wholesale food market building which has a vast warehouse space of some 6000 metres (63,584 sq. ft.). The original market's construction project began in 1927. The building was designed by Luis Gutiérrez Soto...
Due to financial difficulties, the actual building of the market did not commence until 1939, when they were supervised by the town architect, Eduardo Estévez Monasterio. The market was completed in 1944. The building continued to be used for that purpose up until the 1980s. During this decade, a new market was built to meet the demands of the modern city. This left the original Wholesaler's Market without a function or purpose and in an ever deteriorating state.
In 1987, the market was declared to be a 'Bien de Interés Cultural' (Item of Cultural Interest)....In 2000 the old market building began to be converted into the museum for which it is used today. The conversion work was undertaken by Miguel Ángel Día. The interior section of the building was designed by the architects Antonio Álvarez Gil and Salvador García García. Today, just under half of the space in the building is used for the exhibition and display of the museum's collection.
(http://www.spanish-art.org/spanish-museums-centre-of-contemporary-art-of-malaga.html)
"Stephan Balkenhol was born in 1957 in Fritzlar (Hesse) in Germany. Today he lives and works between Karlsruhe, Germany and Meisenthal, France.Balkenhol, an internationally renowned German artist who has been concentrating on the human figure for over two decades, began his sculptural process of figurative wood carving in the mid-eighties – as a response to the abstract, minimalist and conceptual approaches of the Hamburg School of Fine Arts where he studied from 1976 to 1982 under Ulrich Rückriem. His first figurative wooden sculptures from 1983 of a larger-than-life naked man and woman placed the human figure at the centre of his work and reintroduced the figure to contemporary sculpture. In the 1990s he added animals and hybrids, and more recently architecture to his artistic vocabulary. His practice also comprises drawings and photographs."
(https://www.ropac.net/artist/stephan-balkenhol)
Museo de Málaga
Renovation Architects: Fernando Pardo, Bernardo García Tapia, and Ángel Pérez Mora
(http://www.andalucia.com/cities/malaga/museum)
The building was proposed by Manuel Martin Rodriguez in 1787 and approved by Charles III of Spain. Work began in 1791 under the direction of administrador general of Customs Pedro Ortega Monroy and architects Miguel del Castillo and Ildefonso Valcárcel, who designed the principal façade and floor plans. Work was still under way in 1810 when the building was sacked during the occupation of Málaga by French forces during the Peninsular War; after the war, damage was repaired and construction continued. Architect Pedro Nolasco Ventura made various modifications to the plans, and the building was completed in 1829...The Neoclassical building was modeled on Renaissance Italian palaces.
(Wikipedia)
"The project is noteworthy because of its respect for the values of the historic building, while at the same time incorporating a contemporary architectural language, especially in the design of the roof, which reconstructs the original image of the building with a two-sided roof. It is similar in volume to the one lost in 1922, but executed in a contemporary style. In this way, the historic status of the building is respected and enhanced and at the same facilitates the institution's installation in the landmark, by providing a suitable spatial layout and a logical arrangement of the access points."
http://www.museosdeandalucia.es/cultura/museos/MMA/index.jsp?redirect=S2_2.jsp&lng=en
(Aerial view of the new roof, by others.)
(Photo of model of the new roof addition, by others.)
A glimpse of the roof panels on an interior surface at top of photo.
A glimpse of the roof panels on an interior surface at top of photo.
I would have liked to tour the new addition, but it was closed, apparently in the throes of a restaurant build-out. I cannot imagine that the restaurant will occupy the entire space, but like the rest of the museum, only a small portion is actually in use as a museum.
One disconcerting design decision was the selection of dark walnut for many of the elements of the renovation interventions. I assume the architects thought this was a timeless and elegant solution. Unfortunately, the overall effect is simply gloomy. It made the rather minimalist and predictable white marble hall below almost sing.
A "storeroom" gallery.
I cannot decide about this detail. It seems a bit clumsy to me, while at the same time clearly an acceptable preservation technique. Is it just the proportions that are wrong?
Museo del Patrimonio Municipal de Málaga
MUPAM
(Municipal Heritage Museum of Málaga)
The original museum, the glass and metal structure on the street, was designed by Federico Orellana Ortega, Architect and opened in 1999. An additional wing, the brick and concrete structure at the rear that wraps around the preserved and completely separate historic 3-story building, was designed by Architects Miguel Rodríguez González and Pau Soler Serratosa in 2003. The institution became the MUPAM in 2007.
("Manuel Estrada: The notebooks of the designer. Think, draw, design.")
El Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga
(The Carmen Thyssen Museum)
"The main focus of the museum is 19th century Spanish painting, predominantly Andalusian, based on the collection of Carmen Cervera, third wife of Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza.
Since 1992 the Thyssen family's art collection has been on display at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid. However, Carmen Thyssen has been an art collector in her own right since the 1980s, and her personal collection is shown separately. In 1999, she agreed to display many items from her collection in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum for a period of twelve years. Meanwhile, a home for her collection was sought in Málaga. This museum, a conversion of (and addition to) a sixteenth-century building, opened to the public on 24 March 2011.
The purpose-built museum was developed by RG Arquitectos Asociados around the 16th century Baroque Palacio de Villalón, which was partly reconstructed on this occasion. The exhibition spaces, three rooms for the permanent collection and two for temporary exhibitions, were newly built next to the palace, which houses the Old Masters collection"
The purpose-built museum was developed by RG Arquitectos Asociados around the 16th century Baroque Palacio de Villalón, which was partly reconstructed on this occasion. The exhibition spaces, three rooms for the permanent collection and two for temporary exhibitions, were newly built next to the palace, which houses the Old Masters collection"
(WIKIPEDIA)
I remember being so put off by the architecture of the El Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid - another palace/renovation-addition project - that I barely remember the art, a world-renowned collection. This was doubly surprising because apparently there was a multi-nation feeding frenzy for the Baron's collection. The top bid by the Getty museum in Los Angeles was reportedly rejected because of the dislike of the proposed architecture of the required new building.
The architecture for the Madrid palace renovation project was awarded to Rafael Moneo, whose name has appeared in these postings a number of time. That portion is more about re-fitting than making a new architectural statement. The team of architects that led the Madrid addition project were Manuel Baquero, Robert Brufau and the BOPBAA architecture studio. One wonders how bad the Getty design could have been, compared to what they accepted.
Here in Malaga, I was similarly disappointed (read, bored) by the renovation and new addition. You get the sense that the design and work was done "on the cheap." This actually might be closer to the truth about the lack of any excitement in the design, since in both instances the collectors were looking to the State to fund their museums.
The best that can be said for this one is that the building does nothing to detract you from the art itself - which in today's wild museum design environment is saying an awful lot. The art itself is mostly second-tier, so you do not need to feel particularly guilty about not remembering much of it either. On the other hand, it serves as an interesting visual encyclopedia of 19th-century Spain in oils.
(Photo: http://www.malagaturismo.com/en/tourist-resources/detail/carmen-thyssen-museum-malaga/82)
A few, rather grand, original ceilings are still visible and have apparently been restored. They are all poorly lit and badly showcased.
19th Century Madrid.
"The Flower Market," by Jose Benillure Gil (1855-1937), a Valencian artist. Our Serrano Towers, one of the two extant gates to the city, are in the background.
For me, at least, the views to the outside of the museum were as interesting as the art inside, if not more so.
The Family Tree / Gossip edited from several sources:
María del Carmen Rosario Soledad Cervera y Fernández de la Guerra, Dowager Baroness Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon et Impérfalva (in German: María del Carmen Rosario Soledad Freifrau von Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon, popularly known as Carmen "Tita" Cervera or Carmen "Tita" Thyssen) (1943-), is a Spanish philanthropist, socialite and art collector.
She was Miss Spain in 1961 and was married firstly as his fifth wife in 1965 to Lex Barker (the American film actor who played Tarzan after Johnny Weissmuller), secondly in 1975 to Espartaco Santoni, divorcing in 1978, and thirdly as his fifth wife in 1985, to Baron hans Henrich Thyssen-Bornemisza.
Hans Henrik Ágost Gábor, Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon et Impérfalva (1921 - 2002), a billionaire industrialist and art collector was a Dutch-born Swiss citizen with a Hungarian title, a legal resident of Monaco for tax purposes, with a declared second residency in the United Kingdom, but in actuality a long-time resident of Spain, and son of a German father and a Hungarian and English-American mother (related to Daniel M. Frost and John Kerry).
She has no children with any of her husbands, but she had a son born out of wedlock, Alejandro with Manuel Segura. The Baron, Hans Heinrich, adopted her son, known as Alejandro Borja Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon et Impérfalva. As a widow, Carmen Cervera has also adopted two twin baby girls (born in 2007 in United States), called María del Carmen and Guadalupe Sabina in July 2007.
And, in all her glory, the heiress herself, enshrined in her Malaga museum.
Museo Picasso Málaga
(The Picasso Museum Malaga)
Malaga is the birthplace of Pablo Ruiz Picasso. Picasso's family donted 285 works to this museum that opened in 2003. In 2009 it mergerd with Fundacion Museo Picasso Malaga. The new merged foundation is the "Fundación Museo Picasso Málaga. Legado Paul, Christine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso" ("Museo Picasso Málaga Foundation. The Paul, Christine and Bernard Ruiz Picasso Legacy").
"The Picasso Museum Malaga is located in the Palacio de Buenavista (The Buenavista Palace) which was originally built in the first half of the 16th century. It was declared a Naitonal Monument in 1939 and housed a previous fine arts museum 1961–1997, when it was acquired with the intention of converting it into the present museum. Adjoining buildings were adapted and built before the 2003 opening. Besides the palace itself, the museum incorporates 18 houses from the old judería (Jewish quarter)...The conversion of the building for the Museo Picasso was a major undertaking, led by the American architect Richard Gluckman, along with Isabel Cámara and Rafael Martín Delgado.
The excavations for the work led to remarkable discoveries: remnants of a city wall and towers dating back to the Phoenicians, of a Roman factory to produce the fish-based sauce garum, and also of the earlier Nasrid palace on the same site. As a result, the basement is effectively an archaeological museum in its own right, visible from above through transparent panels in the floor."
(Wikipedia)
Civic Sculpture
"We will find the most important urban civil monument of the 19th century in the centre of the Plaza de la Merced; it was designed by the city architect Rafael Mitjana in honour of General Torrijos. (...and installed in 1842)
This funerary monument was erected in memory of José María Torrijos and 48 of his companions who were shot on the beach of San Andrés (on 11 December, 1831) by order of Ferdinand VII (1784 – 1833). Initially they wanted to erect the monument where they were put to death but they decided to use the Plaza de Riego, as the square was formerly known at that time, instead.
The base or pedestal of the monument was used as a crypt where the remains of these defenders of freedom now rest. The monument consists of two parts, the first of them with dedications and the second with the names of the deceased. An obelisk decorated with a bronze laurel wreath and another one at the top of the pyramid complete the monument.
Its construction was funded by popular donations and raffles. A fact that is worth noting about the Monument to Torrijos is that the upper block of stone was slightly displaced by the earthquake of 1884. This was not put right during the restoration as it was considered part of the history of the city."
(http://www.malagaturismo.com/en/tourist-resources/detail/torrijos-monument/68)
"José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda, (1861-1896) widely known as José Rizal, was a Filipino nationalist and polymath during the tail end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines."
(WIKIPEDIA)
"A new monument in honor of Dr. Jose Rizal was installed in the city of Malaga on 30 March 2016. It is visibly located along the Paseo Marítimo which is situated in the heart of Malaga. Facing the monument is a main busy street, while the Instituto de Estudios Portuarios (Institute of Port Studies) is located behind the monument...The Philippine Embassy in Madrid, in close coordination with the Philippine Honorary Consulate Office in Malaga, and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, successfully completed this project which was first brought up during the Philippine Independence Day celebration in Marbella in 2015. The design of the said bust is the first monument in Spain and in Andorra to present Rizal as a writer and a poet...Inscribed on the paper were a few lines from “Mi Último Adiós”, and the inscription on the marker says “A gift of the Filipino people to the Malagueño people in honor of the friendship between the Philippines and Spain”.
(http://www.philembassymadrid.com/5800-2")
"The important number of Filipinos residing in the province of Malaga and that many of the sailors of the cruise ships who dock at the port of Malaga belong to that Asian country are the main reasons why it was decided to locate a statue of Rizal at the entrance to the Port Authority, the honorary consul of the Philippines in Malaga, Rosa Agüera, an expert lawyer in International Law, explained to this newspaper. "It is a great honor to have the heart of the Philippines in Malaga," said the Consul. The statue was made by the sculptor Juan Vega from Malaga."
(http://www.diariosur.es/malaga-capital/201604/22/corazon-filipinas-malaga-20160422122020.html)
"Living" art. (The man, not the dog.)
Stree Art /Arte Callejero
"Dadi Dreucol,"
"I caught you Troy!"
(Photo from http://www.dadidreucol.com/wp/te-pille-troya/)
Another of his works. "Dadi Dreucol" is also well-represented in the arte callejero de Valencia.
City-sponsored Arte Callejero
(Photo by others from TripAdvisor)
I am not sure if the following tile art is sponsored by the city or has been created as more traditional arte callejero. I also am not sure what the panels signify, if anything. They are very well executed and are placed in a way that speaks to permanent installation.
...and a larger version in paint.
The Guadalmedina River Esplanade
(Photo by others, captured from Wikipedia.)
The above photo from perhaps the '80s or '90s tells the story of a city's hopeful redevelopment project to utilize its river bed for the public good. The below photos show today's reality. Neglect? Flooding? Expropriation by less-than-public-minded individuals? All of the above. I read that Malaga is again entertaining proposals from design professionals as to how to fix it with more attention directed at public access. Meanwhile, a street artists' heaven. And, here and there, some street art worth looking at..
A nondescript contemporary building with an abstract art-inspired painted facade perhaps influenced by the scene outside its windows?
Commercial / Commissioned
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