La Manquita: the missing tower

Look up and compare the two sides of the façade. On the left, a tower some 84 metres high. On the right, the stump of another that was never finished. That's why locals fondly call their cathedral la Manquita – "the one-armed lady".

1Two and a half centuries of building

The cathedral was begun in 1528 on the site of the old great mosque, to plans in which Diego de Siloé took part. The east end was consecrated in 1588, but work then stalled for almost a century. It resumed in the 18th century, paid for by a special tax on goods shipped from the port. In 1782 it stopped for good – without the second tower, without part of the decoration and without a roof over the vaults.

2Where did the money go?

The most popular explanation holds that the funds were diverted to help the American colonists in their war of independence against Britain, in which Spain took part. A bilingual plaque now commemorates that aid, and the US city of Mobile is twinned with Málaga. Yet the version local historians repeat most often is more prosaic: part of that tax went on public works, such as the roads to Antequera and Vélez and the San Telmo aqueduct. Most likely no document allows the missing tower to be pinned on a single cause.

The lack of a roof has let water seep into the vaults, and whether to cover them is still an open debate in the city.

3What to look for

• The unfinished tower, cut off at the level of its first storey.
• The dome of the north tower, with its finial, to picture how the complete pair would have looked.
• The uncarved blocks on the façade, still waiting for sculptures that never came.