Look at the laurel wreaths on the obelisk: there is one for each of the 49 men buried in the crypt beneath your feet. Their story begins with a letter.

1Viriato's trap

General José María Torrijos, a liberal exiled in London, was planning from Gibraltar an uprising against Ferdinand VII's absolutist rule. In 1831 he began receiving letters from a certain "Viriato", who claimed to be a fellow liberal and assured him that the troops on the Málaga coast would join the revolt. Viriato was in fact Vicente González Moreno, governor of Málaga, acting with his superiors' knowledge to lure him in.

Torrijos landed on the coast of Mijas on 2 December 1831 with some sixty men. Hunted down, they took refuge in a farmhouse in Alhaurín de la Torre, where they were surrounded and surrendered. On 11 December, without trial, they were shot on San Andrés beach. Espronceda dedicated a sonnet to him, and in 1888 Antonio Gisbert painted them in a canvas that now hangs in the Prado.

2A monument with a crack

The obelisk, designed by Rafael Mitjana, was unveiled on 11 December 1842 and paid for by public subscription. The Christmas earthquake of 1884 shifted one stone block slightly, and restorers have left it that way.

It is often said that the ground under the monument belongs to France. There is no document to prove it.

3What to look for

  • The bronze wreaths climbing the obelisk.
  • The plaques with the names of the executed men on the pedestal.
  • Number 15, the house where Picasso was born in 1881.
Painting of the execution of Torrijos and his companions on a Málaga beach
Antonio Gisbert, "The Execution of Torrijos and His Companions on the Beach at Málaga" (1888), Museo del Prado.

Documented

Torrijos was lured with fake letters from governor González Moreno and shot without trial along with 48 companions on 11 December 1831; their remains have rested in the obelisk's crypt since 1842.

Oral tradition

The idea that the ground beneath the monument is French territory is passed on by word of mouth, but has no documentary basis.

Sources and credits

Málaga City Council, Tourism Department (Monument to Torrijos); Museo Nacional del Prado, entry for The Execution of Torrijos and His Companions on the Beach at Málaga; Real Academia de la Historia, Diccionario Biográfico, "José María Torrijos y Uriarte".

Photos:

  • Torrijos obelisk in Plaza de la Merced, Málaga: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0.
  • Painting of the execution of Torrijos and his companions on a Málaga beach: Antonio Gisbert, Dominio público.

Spotted a mistake? Drop us a line and we’ll look into it.