Music and fine arts

MUSIC AND FINE ARTS

The municipal theatre, Miguel de Cervantes, in the capital, is no doubt the best cultural offer in Málaga for locals and strangers and with time has become an obligatory experience for thousands of national citizens, vacacional tourists and residents for the programme of dramatic representations, operas and traditional Spanish operettas, as well as being the auditorium where the Symphonic Orchestra of Málaga act during the concert season. The municipal theatre, Vicente Espinel in Ronda is also added to this offer, as well as the Salón Varietés in Fuengirola, which is smaller, but which has a programme of representations in English and other languages.

To these three theatres there is the addition of the cultural plan network of prestigious museums and cultural institutions which exist in the capital and certain towns, exhibition halls and art galleries and flamenco halls where, fortunately, the excessive folklore of yesteryear have been eliminated.

In the city of Málaga there are a series of monuments such as the Alcazaba, Gibralfaro, the Roman Theatre, the Cathedral, and the Sagrario church; a unique botanical offer with the gardens of the Paseo del Parque, the estate of the Concepción (botanical park) and the gardens of the Retiro; the natal house of Pablo Picasso and a very interesting museum network formed by the Arqueológico, the Bellas Artes, the Diocesano de Arte Sacro, the Artes Populares, the Semana Santa, as well as the Palacio Obispal, where there is a large exhibition of temporal samples.

In the province there are monumental cities par excellence: Ronda and Antequera, are destinations programmed in the cultural circuits. In Ronda it is worth remembering the Almocábar door, the Mondragón palace, the Casa del Gigante, the Roman theatre of Acinipo, the Santa María la Mayor church, the Santo Domingo el Puente Nuevo convent, the palace of the Marquis of Salvatierra, the Arabic baths, the Real Maestranza de Caballerías bullfighting ring, etc. and in the city of Antequera there are the convents and churches, the Royal Collegiate of Santa María la Mayor, the Encarnación church, the Carmen church, the Remedios church, the Municipal Museum, the megalithic complex of dolmens, etc. Other localities which have cultural samples of certain relief are Nerja with its spectacular prehistoric caves, the site of the international music festival; Vélez-Málaga with the palace of the Marquises of Beniel, the convent church of San Francisco, and Santa María la Mayor; Archidona with the Ochavada square; Marbella with the paeleochristian basilisk, Vega del Mar and the Roman thermes of Las Bóvedas; and Benalmádena with the pre-Columbian museum.

The oldest traditions.- Together with this cultural exponent, the folklore has to be mentioned, and the popular festivities which grow their roots in the oldest traditions from centuries ago. Practically all the municipalities have something interesting to offer all year long, starting with Christmas and New Year, the carnivals, Easter, and many singular manifestations, the pilgrimages in spring and summer, the fairs and patron saint’s festivities and other commemorations.