Customs House Palace (Palacio de la Aduana)

Take in the sheer size of this palace: it is the stone proof of what free trade with the Americas meant for Málaga. When Charles III opened the port to transatlantic traffic, the old customs house in the Atarazanas became too small – and too far from the water, because the sea had been steadily retreating.

1An unlucky building

A Royal Order of 1787 approved the project, and the first stone was laid on 20 October 1791, to a design by Manuel Martín Rodríguez, with Pedro Nolasco Ventura later in charge. The Peninsular War halted work in 1810, and French troops carted off materials. Building resumed in 1826 and was finished in 1829, with the air of an Italian Renaissance palace: four wings around an arcaded courtyard.

Ironically, it never became the customs house it was meant to be. It opened as the Royal Tobacco Factory and later housed the Treasury, the Provincial Council and the Civil Government. In the early hours of 26 April 1922 a fire destroyed the attic, where junior staff lived with their families: 28 people died.

Under Franco, members of the democratic opposition were held in the cells of its semi-basement.

Since 2016 it has been home to the Museo de Málaga, which brings together the former Fine Arts and Archaeology collections. The courtyard was opened up as a public square, and the pitched roof lost in the fire was restored.

2What to look for

• The rusticated stonework of the ground floor, which gives the building its massive look.
• The palm trees on the south front, almost as tall as the palace.
• The pitched roof, rebuilt during the latest restoration.