- Choir stalls — the carved wooden seats in the centre of a cathedral where the clergy sit. Pedro de Mena’s figures are here, not on the high altar.
- Ephebe — a Greek word for a young man. Antequera’s bronze is a Roman copy of a classical nude, found in a villa on the plain.
- Pantheon — a family burial chapel. The Counts of Buenavista built theirs under La Victoria in white stucco on black.
Painting and sculpture in Malaga — Picasso first, then the cathedral and the Ephebe
Most visitors who come to Malaga for pictures start at the Picasso Museum, in the Palacio de Buenavista, a short walk from the cathedral. Next door in spirit, if not always in the same morning, are the Museo de Malaga in the old Customs House, the Carmen Thyssen collection of nineteenth-century Andalusian painting, and the Centre Pompidou at the harbour. That is the circuit the city now runs on.
The older city still holds what this page used to list alone: Pedro de Mena’s choir stalls in the cathedral, the painted dome of Santo Cristo de la Salud, the black-and-white pantheon in the Sanctuary of La Victoria, and — inland — the Roman bronze Ephebe in Antequera. Do the museums first if your time is short. The choir and the Ephebe keep. Related: Malaga.
*Museum tickets and cathedral hours change. Book Picasso in busy months. The Ephebe is in Antequera, not in the city museums.
Words you will meet
The four museums most people book
The Museo Picasso Malaga shows paintings, sculpture and ceramics from the artist’s own holdings and family gifts — more than two hundred works in a sixteenth-century palace. It is the reason many travellers come into the old town at all. Book a slot; the queue is real in spring and autumn half-terms.
The Museo de Malaga, in the Palacio de la Aduana, is the city’s own collection: fine art upstairs (Luis de Morales, Murillo, Zurbaran and later Malaga painters) and archaeology below. If you only add one museum to Picasso, add this. The Carmen Thyssen Museum, in the Palacio de Villalon, is nineteenth-century Spain with a strong Andalusian room — costumbrista scenes, landscape, the beach before the high-rises. The Centre Pompidou Malaga, in the glass cube at Muelle Uno, rotates modern and contemporary work from the Paris collection. It is a different afternoon from Mena’s saints.
- Museo Picasso Malaga — official site
- Museo de Malaga — visitor page
- Museo Carmen Thyssen Malaga — official site
- Centre Pompidou Malaga — official site
Cathedral, Santo Cristo and La Victoria
The cathedral’s classical nave is one thing; the choir is another. Pedro de Mena and other carvers made the stalls between 1658 and 1678: forty-two figures, close work, faces that read as private rather than triumphant. Alonso Cano’s Virgin of the Rosary (1665) hangs in a chapel. Juan Nino de Guevara, Cano’s Malaga follower, painted dense Baroque canvases for the same building — including work around 1690–98 that older guides file under Our Lady of Charity. They are not the same picture.
Santo Cristo de la Salud is not inside the cathedral. It is the Jesuit church on Plaza de la Constitucion, beside the Thyssen. The dome (paintings 1639–44 by the Jesuit brother Andres Cortes) is a circle of painted architecture, saints, martyrs and angels. Look up; that is the visit.
The Sanctuary of La Victoria, north of the old centre, holds the eighteenth-century pantheon of the Counts of Buenavista: white stucco on a black ground. It is a short taxi or a long walk up from the cathedral. Go for the chapel, not for another Picasso room.
Antequera: the bronze Ephebe
The piece that closes the old list is not in Malaga city. The Municipal Museum of Antequera keeps a Roman bronze of a young man, ivy and grapes at the waist — a copy, in the Roman taste, of a fifth-century BC Greek type, with cousins at Volubilis and Pompeii. It came from a villa on the Antequera plain. If you already plan Antequera for the dolmens or El Torcal, see the Ephebe then. It is not a footnote you add after Pompidou on a wet Tuesday.
- Municipal Museum of Antequera — map · museum page
How to get around from the airport and the Costa
Malaga’s museums sit in the old town and at the port, a short ride from the airport and from hotels on the Costa del Sol. A hire car is useful if Antequera is on the same trip. For Picasso, the Aduana, Thyssen and the cathedral you are better on foot once you have parked or been dropped in the centre.
Car hire: the flexible option
From Malaga Airport you can collect a car for Antequera and the inland museums. In the city itself, park once and walk Picasso, the cathedral and Thyssen.
Hire a car at Malaga Airport
Taxi or private transfer
Door to door from Malaga Airport or your Costa del Sol hotel to the old town. Ask to be left near the Picasso Museum or the cathedral. A separate run covers Antequera if you do not want to drive.
Book a transfer*No credit-card details or advance payment are needed to request a quote. Cancellation is free. Book ahead in high season to avoid price rises and to secure the car or group size you need.
Other options
From Malaga Airport the suburban train (Cercanias) runs to Maria Zambrano and the city centre in about twelve minutes. Buses also cover the airport–centre route. From Fuengirola, Torremolinos or Benalmadena the same Cercanias line is the usual way into Malaga. Once you are in the old town, Picasso, the cathedral, Santo Cristo and Thyssen are a walk apart. The Pompidou is at the port; La Victoria is up the hill to the north — a taxi is kinder than the slope in July.
Antequera is about fifty minutes inland by car on the A-45. Trains run from Maria Zambrano to Antequera-Santa Ana; from that station you still need a local bus or taxi into town for the municipal museum. Coaches also run Malaga–Antequera. If the Ephebe is the only reason to leave the city, a morning transfer or a hire car is simpler than stitching two trains.
Practical tips
- Book Picasso first. Walk the cathedral and Santo Cristo the same morning if you start early.
- The Museo de Malaga and Thyssen are the next rooms that repay a ticket. Pompidou is optional unless you want modern work.
- Santo Cristo de la Salud is next to the Thyssen, not a chapel inside the cathedral.
- La Victoria is a separate hill. Combine it with a taxi, not with the last museum slot of the day.
- The Ephebe is in Antequera. See it with the dolmens or El Torcal, not as a dash from the Pompidou.
Frequently asked questions about art in Malaga
What should I see first?
The Picasso Museum, then the Museo de Malaga in the Aduana or the Carmen Thyssen. The cathedral choir is next door when you have done the galleries.
Who carved the cathedral choir?
Pedro de Mena and other sculptors, between 1658 and 1678. Forty-two figures in the stalls at the centre of the nave.
Is the Santo Cristo dome inside the cathedral?
No. Santo Cristo de la Salud is a separate church on Plaza de la Constitucion. Andres Cortes painted the dome in 1639–44.
Where is the bronze Ephebe?
In the Municipal Museum of Antequera, about fifty minutes inland. It is a Roman bronze of a young man, found on the plain.
Is Alonso Cano in Malaga Cathedral?
Yes. His Virgin of the Rosary (1665) is there. Juan Nino de Guevara, who followed Cano, also painted for the cathedral.
Do I need a car for the city museums?
No. Airport train or a transfer into the old town, then walk. Hire a car if you want Antequera on the same trip.
