Catedral

Preserved rather magnificently, like an unfinished Beethoven symphony, Málaga’s cathedral was begun in the 16th century on the former site of the main mosque and never properly completed. Consequently the building exhibits a mishmash of architectural styles absorbed during more than two centuries of construction. For example, the northern door, Portada de la Iglesia del Sagrario, is Gothic; the interior, with a soaring 40m dome, is Gothic/Renaissance; while the facade is 18th-century baroque. The cathedral is known as La Manquita (the One-Armed), since its southern tower was never completed. Inside, note the 17th-century wooden choir stalls, as dark and smooth as chocolate, finely carved by the popular Andalucian sculptor Pedro de Mena. The chapels vie with each other in splendour. Pause at the Chapel of the Virgin of the Kings (numbered 18 in the cathedral guide) to look at a large painting depicting the beheading of St Paul – violent, graphic and strangely beautiful.