---
node: spot_malaga_malaga_cathedral
type: spot
slug: malaga_cathedral
destination: dest_malaga
title: "Málaga Cathedral"
lead: "Málaga's cathedral was begun in 1528 and never finished: the south tower stops at half height, which is why the city calls it La Manquita, the one-armed lady. The money for it went to the American war of independence instead."
published: 2026-08-12
updated: 2026-08-12
image_file: spot_malaga_malaga_cathedral.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:254_Jahre_dauerte_es_bis_der_Bau_der_Kathedrale_von_Malaga_vollendet_war._02.jpg"
image_author: "Holger Uwe Schmitt"
image_license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

## Overview

The building took two and a half centuries and is Renaissance where Gothic was planned, with a barrel-vaulted interior of unusual height and light. Records show funds set aside for the second tower were diverted in 1782 to support the American colonists against Britain — a story the cathedral itself now tells. The choir stalls by Pedro de Mena, carved in the 1660s, are the finest thing inside.

## Highlights

Pay for the roof tour: you walk the vaults on the outside of the barrel and see the unfinished tower from above. The stalls need ten minutes on their own — forty saints carved in mahogany and cedar by one man. The cathedral square is one of the few shaded sitting places in the centre in August.