Several environmental and cultural collectives have requested the Andalusian Government Council for Culture and the Malaga Provincial Delegation to declare the Marbella old town and its traditional extensions as a historical complex, in order to achieve the maximum protection that the legislation grants.
The document that has been drawn up consists of twenty-two pages and is divided into three parts plus seven annexes, which are defended by the Cilniana associations, Marbella Activa, Ecologists in Action Marbella, Ecologists Malaka and the Platform No to the High Tension Towers-Paraje de Montemayor (Benahavís).
First, the text presents a description of the old town of Marbella and its extensions, where “its historical values are highlighted and the importance of the sociological, ethnological and anthropological aspects of this environment as a center of recreational, cultural, coexistence and commercial activities is underlined.”
On the other hand, the writing reviews the performances on the old town that have taken place from the middle of the 20th century until the approval of the General Urban Development Plan (PGOU) of 2010 and its subsequent cancellation in 2015, where “the approval, in March 2007, of the urban planning regulations for the classified C-1 and the complementary precautionary regulations of the historic center of Marbella, whose uniqueness lay in advancing part of the provisions of the special protection plan for the old town and its extensions ”.
According to the signatory groups, the justification of the proposal supposes the bulk of the document, exposing “the archaeological evidence from prehistory to the nineteenth century “, where “Se points out the presence of pre-Roman remains in the castle area, the Roman remains that dot the current old town, the clear urban configuration of the city as Muslim in origin (with narrow streets, the citadel, the wall, the certain existence of a major mosque or aljama, the city gates, the shopping area, baths, etc.) and the more than probable Byzantine presence in this geographical setting ”.
Likewise, the advances from the Castilian stage with “The conversion of at least six mosques into Christian churches (Encarnación, San Bernabé, Santa Catalina, Santiago, San Cristóbal and San Sebastián), for in the 16th century to put the accent on the main buildings such as the Barrio Alto, the Barrio Nuevo de the Fortress, the Convent of the Trinity, the Hospital of San Juan de Dios, the Church of Santo Cristo, the House of the Town Hall (probably towards the end of the century) and the Public Square; dating from the seventeenth century the Casa del Corregidor and the Bazán Hospital ”.
“Moving forward in time, in the 18th century the walls were replaced by houses, the Alameda appears, -which consolidates the opening of the city towards the south-, we witness the expansion of the urban area to the east of the city, the genesis of the Nuevo neighborhood (El Barrio), the erection of the new temple of the Incarnation or the replacement of the castle of San Luis by the fort of the same name “, indicate the signatories, while pointing out that neither the 19th century nor the middle of the 20th” represented significant advances from an urban point of view “.
In another sense, the document reflects “the problematic dating of houses as there is no precise study available ”, highlighting that in any case“ the 18th and 19th centuries can be established as the chronological framework for most of the intramural buildings and the Alto neighborhood, with the exceptions of the cases of the 16th and 19th centuries. XVII ”.
In addition, a synthesis of the current situation of the historic center and the literal description of the areas to be protected, emphasizing that the C-1 regulation was a transitory document that meant a great advance and a turning point, but that its application has not been systematic or sufficient (it only covers some specific buildings and not to the helmet assembly).
In conclusion, it is shown that “the old town presents a good state of conservation, but threatened by real estate speculation, by overhead cabling and by the aesthetic consequences of growing outsourcing ”.