Emergency work carried out to prevent the deterioration of Malaga's Alcazaba

The deterioration of Malaga's Alcazaba - the city's most visited monument - has become evident. The municipal urban planning department (Urbanismo) has just contracted emergency work to repair the wall next to Paseo Juan Temboury, which protects a garden area. Already last year, the city council removed a tree as part of the first and only package of repairs carried out so far on this ancient fortress and on the Gibralfaro castle.

Urbanismo has contracted Jaralia Integral for this emergency work, investing a budget of 109,808 euros. The company has a one-month deadline for this urgent action, which seeks to prevent the wall from collapsing and causing damage to pedestrians in this tourist area of the city centre.

This emergency action aims to "eliminate the earth fillings deposited in the middle of the 20th century, which are exerting accumulated pressure on the structure of the wall, compromising its stability and conservation, with the risk of its collapse on a public space frequented by visitors and residents".

The intervention also contemplates "the restoration of the masonry, joints and putlog holes of the affected wall, along with its definitive stabilisation by improving the base, restoring the natural profile of the rock, lost due to a contemporary 'shaving' probably produced to make use of the bay in the row of houses that was built onto the wall in the 19th century".

The city council has put the brakes on further repairs to the Alcazaba and Gibralfaro castle for the time being, which are pending studies, as urban planning councillor Carmen Casero indicated at the beginning of the year. In 2024, the city council executed the first package of urgent works, with a budget of only 85,000 euros.

However, since then, no further action has been taken on both monuments and it seems that their definitive rehabilitation will take a long time. Despite the actions carried out by Urbanismo in recent years, such as a three-dimensional scan and various archaeological tests, no new major repairs are expected to be carried out on both monuments in the short term.