Museums & galleries
There is something for everyone in the ‘museum city’, from contemporary and classic art to flamenco and bullfighting.
Check out the best art galleries and exhibition spaces in Malaga
Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga
The Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga is one of Malaga’s main attractions in terms of visitor numbers. Opened in 2011, it brings together one of the most important collections of Spanish and Andalusian painting from the early 19th century to the early modern period in the 20th century, encompassing some of the main movements in Spanish art during this period, such as landscape and folkloristic painting. There are also a number of other interesting temporary exhibitions to be seen in this […]
La Polivalente
La Polivalente is a popular venue in the arty-yet-edgy Lagunillas area of the city. The bar is a diamond in this somewhat rough neighbourhood located between Plaza de la Merced and Plaza de la Victoria. It’s a real melting pot for artistic types, with the venue offering a full schedule of shows and live music. This almost impossibly small bar, with an embracing bohemian vibe, also puts on exhibitions by local artists. Its mission, they say, is to “create a meeting […]
Teatro Romano de Málaga (Roman Theatre)
Located at the foot of the Alcazaba on the ornate Calle Alcazabilla, are the remains of Malaga’s Roman Theatre (teatro romano). Dating from the early years of the Roman Empire, like Ancient Greek theatres its design makes use of the hillside for the tiered seating. A large part of the seating remains, as does the orchestra area, decorated with large marble slabs. A chance discovery The theatre was only rediscovered in 1951 during work to create a new garden area. […]
Museo Picasso Málaga
The Picasso Museum is, without doubt, one of the most popular attractions in Malaga. This museum, dedicated to the work and life of Pablo Picasso, Malaga’s most famous citizen, is located in the narrow streets of the former Jewish quarter (judería) in the Buenavista Palace (El Palacio de los Condes de Buenavista). The Museo Picasso Málaga and its collection are a response to Pablo Picasso’s wish for his work to be displayed in the city where he was born on 25 […]
Museo de la Imaginación (Imagination Museum)
The Museo de la Imaginación is a place where everyone gets the chance to feel like a child again. Tucked away in the Soho neighbourhood is this unconventional museum that combines science and education with entertainment and in which you can plunge headfirst into the world of illusions. Don’t forget to bring a camera with you because there are plenty of photo opportunities as visitors can interact with objects and become direct participants in the displays. There are numerous optical […]
La Térmica
La Térmica describes itself as “a centre for contemporary cultural creation and production”. This means that it accommodates all forms of artistic expression, from the performing arts to fashion, cinema, plastic arts, music, design, architecture, urban planning, landscaping and thought. As it is managed by the Diputación provincial government, La Térmica also offers a programme of residencies, workshops, training and support for creators and entrepreneurs, providing the economic, technical and human resources necessary to guarantee the professional growth of the […]
Museo Automovilístico de Málaga (Car Museum)
It’s difficult to find anything like the Malaga Automobile and Fashion Museum. This extraordinary private collection, across 6,000 square metres of exhibition space, boasts almost a hundred beautifully restored and exclusive vehicles (some of which date back to the 19th century), upholstered in ostrich and mink fur, or precious woods, with accessories such as ivory and silver handles. The wide range of motors come from a broad selection of iconic manufacturers such as Mercedes, Hispano Suiza, Bugatti, Bentley, Rolls-Royce and […]
La Malagueta bullring
La Malagueta bullring may be one of the most emblematic buildings in Malaga, but it’s not actually all that old. It was officially opened to the public on 11 June 1876 with a fight involving the legendary Rafael Molina “Lagartijo”. The building itself was designed in neo-Mudéjar style by Joaquín Rucoba – the man also responsible for the Mercado Central de Atarazanas. It was the seventh to be built in the city and was declared a Historic Artistic Monument in […]
Colección del Museo Ruso (Russian Museum)
In 2015, the Colección del Museo Ruso, a branch of the Russian State Museum of Saint Petersburg, chose Malaga as a destination to increase its already significant global footprint – and it’s not hard to see why. Housed in the outskirts of the city in the Huelín district, until early 2022 the “Russian museum” welcomed over 40 exhibitions with works from some of biggest names in Russian art, including Vassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, Marc Chagall, Alexander Deineka and Alexander Rodchenko. […]
CAC Málaga
For modern art aficionados, the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC Málaga) is an essential part of any itinerary. Located next to the river and the Centro Alameda Cercanías station, in the increasingly fashionable Soho district, the CAC has housed some of the most current artists in the world, including works by street artists Obey and D-Face (whose murals decorate the Soho area), and Ai Wei Wei. The building itself, which first opened in 1939, is a magnificent example of self-sufficient rationalism […]
Museo del Vidrio y Cristal de Málaga (Glass Museum)
The Museo del Vidrio y Cristal de Málaga is certainly one of Malaga’s biggest hidden treasures. The Glass Museum is tucked away in the backstreets of the San Felipe Neri district of the city, in a carefully restored 18th-century townhouse, actually lived in by the owners of the collection. It is a private collection of more than 3,000 pieces of glass, accompanied by pictures, furniture and decorative objects in a setting that corresponds to each historical period represented. Each room […]
Fundación Pablo Ruiz Picasso / Museo Casa Natal
You don’t have to walk far from the Picasso Museum to find Plaza de la Merced, a romantic square in which, at the end of the row of houses on the north side you can find number 15, where the man himself, Pablo Ruiz y Picasso, was born in 1881. Nowadays, Plaza de la Merced houses both the headquarters of the Picasso Foundation, which possesses some 200 pieces by the artist, but also the Birthplace Museum (Casa Natal). The former […]
Centre Pompidou Malaga
The jewel in the crown of Malaga’s cultural scene. This is the first “pop-up” of the Paris-based cultural centre, the Centre Pompidou, to be based outside France. Focused on contemporary art, the Centre Pompidou Malaga is located in the Muelle Uno complex, a space dedicated to high-quality leisure, where the gallery first opened its doors to the public in March 2015. The ‘Cube’, a multicoloured glass box, adorns the top of the gallery converting it into one of the city’s […]
Revello de Toro Museum
In what was once the home of sculptor Pedro de Mena is now the Museo Revello de Toro, a museum dedicated to the great Malaga-born portrait painter and figurative artist. It first opened its doors in 2010 and houses six exhibition spaces. In the first and second are the Félix Revello de Toro exhibition, which hosts 116 of the artist’s works, including Self-portrait (1990), My mother (1950) and Elements of Survival (1978). There are also sections dedicated to female figures […]
Museo de Málaga / Museum of Malaga
As if we didn’t have enough in the ‘Museum City’, we’ve been gifted one more. The Museum of Malaga reopened on 12 December 2016, nearly two decades after it closed. Located in the city’s old customs house (la Aduana), a stone’s throw from the teatro romano, this museum brings together the province’s Fine Arts and archaeological collections which until 1997 were housed in the building now known as the Picasso museum and the Alcazaba, respectively. Several protests and 19 years […]
Municipal Heritage Museum (MUPAM)
In the Paseo del Parque, and at the foot of the city’s iconic Alcazaba, a palatial fortification built by the Hammudid dynasty in the early 11th century, is the Municipal Heritage Museum (MUPAM). Its permanent exhibition documents the history of the city from as far back as the 15th century. The tour starts in “Room I”, which is dedicated to the period from the 15th to the 18th century, when Malaga became part of the kingdom of Aragón and Castile, […]
Museo de Artes y Costumbres Populares
Whoever wants to gain a better understanding of the customs and traditions of the region has to visit the Museo de Artes y Costumbres Populares (Museum of Arts and Popular Customs). The museum occupies the old Mesón de la Victoria, a 17th-century former inn on the bank of the Guadalmedina river, which has been classified as a Building of Cultural Interest. The museum was created as part of a policy of recovering and preserving the heritage of the city, by […]