Málaga - Santa Iglesia Catedral Basílica de la Encarnación

Málaga's history spans around 2,800 years, making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe. The city was founded around the 8th century BC by seafaring Phoenicians, who called the city Malaka.
From the 6th century BC, the city was under the hegemony of ancient Carthage and from the Second Punic War (218 BC) under Roman rule. The city experienced an economic boom thanks to the production of garum.

The Migration Period meant eventful years for Málaga. After the Vandals and the Alans, Visigoths and Eastern Romans fought for control. In 571, the city was briefly occupied by troops of the Visigothic king Leovigild, but it was not until around 616 that the Eastern Romans finally handed the city over to the Visigoths.

The Moors conquered Málaga in 711 and the city gained importance in the 11th century when the Hammudids established one of their residences here. In 1053, the King of Granada had the last Hammudid caliph poisoned and conquered the city. After the conquest by the Catholic Monarchs in the course of the Reconquista in 1487, "reforms" began to transform the city into a Christian settlement. In Muslim times, the Jewish quarter was located in the eastern part of the city. In the 11th century, the city took in numerous Jews who had fled from the intolerant Berbers in Córdoba. In the middle of the 11th century, around 200 Jews lived in Málaga out of a population of around 20,000. After the city was conquered by Castile in 1487, all of Malaga's Jews were taken prisoner. Around 1490 it was decided that the city should be repopulated by Christians. Jews and Muslims had to leave Málaga within 15 days.

The Cathedral of Málaga seen from the Alcazaba. It was built by the Christian conquerors from 1528 over a mosque.

As a result of the 254-year construction phase up to 1782, the church consists of a mixture of different styles. The Renaissance style is predominant, but it also has Gothic, Baroque and Neoclassical elements. To defray the enormous expenses of the work, the Crown imposed a tax on the ships that called in Málaga.