Málaga Cathedral
Nicknamed La Manquita, or the “one-armed lady” because of its unfinished second bell tower, this church collapses a lot of history into one hulking mass. It sits at the foot of the Alcazaba where the Moorish mosque used to be, a symbolic obliteration that was not lost on the Spanish royalty, who took back Málaga from the Moors in 1487. Construction of the cathedral began in 1528; the builders finally threw up their hands in 1782. Highlight: the striking 17th-century choir stalls with carved images of 40 saints are largely the work of Pedro de Mena, one of Spain’s most celebrated wood sculptors.
Nicknamed La Manquita, or the “one-armed lady” because of its unfinished second bell tower, this church collapses a lot of history into one hulking mass. It sits at the foot of the Alcazaba where the Moorish mosque used to be, a symbolic obliteration that was not lost on the Spanish royalty, who took back Málaga from the Moors in 1487. Construction of the cathedral began in 1528; the builders finally threw up their hands in 1782. Highlight: the striking 17th-century choir stalls with carved images of 40 saints are largely the work of Pedro de Mena, one of Spain’s most celebrated wood sculptors.
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