Costa del Sol News
Marbella's historic past is retreating in the old town. The halting of actions to build a museum inside the La Trinidad convent, which would allow for the recovery of a 16th-century building currently in a state of advanced deterioration; and the project to transform the Governor's House into tourist-use housing, where Prime Ministers of Spain were born and Kings have stayed, make the historic center of Marbella a place where it is increasingly difficult to reconnect with the town's past. Far from starting the works to recover La Trinidad, postponed for decades, this week the City Council had to urgently shore up and reinforce one of the convent's facades, which was threatening to collapse, due to the appearance of various cracks.
The cracks appear in a property located right in the center of the old town where the City Council has proposed, over the last twelve years, the creation of at least two types of museums, neither of which has been executed. The mayor of the town, Ángeles Muñoz, prioritized the recovery of La Trinidad in 2021; and in May 2019, announced a collaboration protocol between the City Council and the Andalusian Regional Government to promote various cultural projects in the town, among which was the construction of the city museum in the convent. In 2013, the mayor presented a "protocol of intentions" for the convent to house a museum specializing in modern architecture and design, a pioneer in Spain at that time. Muñoz announced that the center would house plans, photographs, or models of emblematic works of the 20th century and would include a specific space for Marbella architecture and that of the rest of the Costa del Sol.
Neither of the two projects has been executed, and Marbella still lacks a city museum. The other project that could transform the nature of the historic properties in the old town seeks to enable eleven tourist-use housing units in the Governor's House, where King Felipe IV slept in 1624 during a trip through the south of the Iberian Peninsula; and where José López Domínguez, the Prime Minister from July to November 1906 under the reign of Alfonso XIII, was born.
The Andalusian High Court of Justice has accepted a complaint filed by a platform composed of cultural and business associations and political groups, denouncing an urban planning change to expedite the project. If executed, the project would mean privatizing the parade ground, building an additional floor, or causing "irreparable damage" to the building, the collective claims.
"The surroundings of the Governor's House are cataloged as a Site of Cultural Interest (BIC), which prevents real estate developments that disfigure Marbella's historical heritage," the collective explains. According to the government team, the level of protection of the property, one of the most historically valuable in the old town, remains the same as before the urban planning change. "It remains a BIC and ultimately depends on the Regional Government," they note.
