The Alcazaba of Malaga (from the Arabic al-qaṣbah, قصبة, al qasbah, 'citadel') is a palatial fortification from the Islamic period, built on a previous fortification of Phoenician-Punic origin.2 It is located on the slopes of Mount Gibralfaro, in an elevated position but adjacent and linked to the historic centre of the city, which constituted the ancient madina of Mālaqa, and on whose summit is the Gibralfaro Castle.

It occupied the eastern end of the disappeared walled enclosure of the city, so that the south, west and north fronts were within the walls. Its current surface area of ​​15,000 square metres does not even reach half the size it had in its heyday, as shown by the preserved historical plans.

According to the restoration architect, Leopoldo Torres Balbás, the Alcazaba of Málaga is the prototype of the military architecture of the Taifa period, in the 11th century, with its double walled enclosure and a large number of fortifications, its only parallel being the Crac de los Caballeros castle, a fortress built in Syria by the Crusaders between the 12th and 13th centuries.3

This palace-fortress is one of the city's historical monuments, a much-visited space for combining history and beauty in the same enclosure.

Dating back to the Muslim period, it is located at the foot of Mount Gibralfaro, where the Andalusian defensive castle is located, to which it was linked by a passageway protected by walls called La Coracha; next to the Roman Theatre of Málaga and opposite the Palacio de la Aduana, it is an opportunity to see in just a few metres the union of Roman, Andalusian and Renaissance cultures, which makes this corner a very special place.