Roman Theater Alcazaba

The Roman Theatre was built in Malaga in the 1st century AD, when the Romans, under August’s empire,colonised this area. It kept being used as a theatre until the 3rd century AD. Between the 5th and 6thcentury, the Theatre was converted into a cemetery, until the Byzantine occupation in the 7th century. After this period, the Theatre was abandoned and it’s believed to have been pillaged by the Arabs to build the nearby Alcazaba.

It was only in 1951 that the theatre was discovered, thanks to the decision of destroying the “Casa de la Cultura”. FYI, the Casa de la Cultura was built on top of the Roman Theatre and it consisted of an Archive and Library Palace, also known as “The Home of the (Lack of) Culture”. In 1972, the Theatre was declared Spain’s Bien de Interés Cultural.

In 2010, the Visitor’s Centre of the Roman Theatre was inaugurated in the square facing the theatre. This rectangular-shaped building is made of iron, wood, and crystal, on whose outdoor walls, you can read some parts of the Lex Flavia Malacitana (a law that ratified the passage of Malaga from confederate city to city of the Roman Empire, with all the advantages that implied).

The Theatre’s Visitor’s Centre hosts an exhibition of the Roman world, enriched by the pieces found in the Theatre during the excavation process.