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Puerta de Málaga

Declared a National Monument, it is the most characteristic expression of Muslim art in the city. It dates from the eighteenth century and is also known as Ermita de la Virgen de Espera.

Belonging to the walled complex of the Islamic Medina, the Puerta de Málaga is of the type of passageway in a bend. It remembers, despite its smaller dimensions, that of the Justice of the Alhambra in Granada. On its main front (9.94 meters wide) it has a brick horseshoe arch with recessed alfiz, creating the typical niche of spatial compartmentalization, so characteristic of Nasrid architecture. Between the aforementioned arch and the cloth in which the door itself opens, there is a space open to the sky through which projectiles were thrown in the moments of siege.

The interior organization of the tower, which was very disrupted when it became a hermitage, has been recovered after the restoration carried out in 1986; In addition, the arch of the posterior face, which for years was practically buried, has been discovered and consolidated. However, and out of respect for the long Marian tradition of the monument, the altarpiece and canvas of the Virgin of Espera has been maintained, a curious Mannerist painting in which, against the background of the city walls, the Gothic image of the Virgin of Hope of the Collegiate Church of San Sebastián is freely represented.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jesús Romero Benítez, Artistic Guide of Antequera.

Contact:

Address: Mirador Niña de Antequera Street