Ibn Gabirol, Manuel Altolaguirre, Emilio Prados and his literary journal, Litoral, Vicente Aleixandre, Federico García Lorca, Manuel Alcántara… Málaga has always been a land of poets. Some of them were born here and produced their work at home. Others were just visiting here seduced by the bohemia, or by the light and the sea. Either way, Málaga never turned her back on literature. There is even a literary quarter in central Málaga: Pozos Dulces. Lying only 5 minutes away from the Carmen Thyssen Museum, it is worth a visit.
Turn this corner to read a line from Constantino Cavafis about the emotional ties between the city and its citizens: ‘There is no other land and no other sea. The city will always be with you.’ Turn that corner to come across a quote from local poet Rafael Pérez Estrada: ‘Málaga, a martini of the sea.’ On another wall, Federico García Lorca reminds us that ‘stars have no boyfriends.’ At first sight, the sentences seem to be unconnected, but they are beautiful and powerful, and they are closely related to feeling and emotions associated with the capital of the Costa del Sol.
An inspiring place: Plaza del Pericón
To cap off the project, work was done in one of the loveliest squares in town: Plaza del Pericón. Previously a derelict place, it was endowed with a vertical garden supported by the ‘Wall of Words’, where you can read ‘passion’ surrounded by the most beautiful words in Spanish (and also in other languages) beginning with the letters in the main word: ‘Abrázame’ (hug me), ‘Infancia’ (childhood), ‘Natural’, ‘Solidario’ (committed), ‘Oyéndote’ (listening to you)… Although it is a transit area, nobody can resist the temptation of stopping for a while and taking a look. It is simple and yet very moving. It is the power of words.
Projects like Plaza del Pericón are not just an effort to embellish the city. They match the spirit of Málaga, its deep connections to arts and letters, also reflected in the leading museums that have placed the city on the map of international cultural tourism. And these connections cuts both ways: Málaga feels for literature and literature feels for Málaga. In the beautiful words of Vicente Aleixandre,
‘My eyes always see you, the city of my seabound days.
Perched on a majestic mountain, barely standing still
In your plunge into the wavy blue,
You rule under the sky and above water,
Frozen in mid-air as if a joyous hand
Had kept you there, in a picture of glory,
Before you sink down the loving waves.’
A few years ago, architect José Fernández Oyarzábal submitted a rehabilitation project for Pozos Dulces. A short distance from Carretería Street, one of Málaga’s major thoroughfares, this neglected district stood with its back turned on the medieval city walls. Its winding, narrow streets – a reminder of the spirit of past times – are really charming. The rehabilitation plan included writing poets’ quotes on the walls about Málaga and the sea, and about life in this city that never takes to rest.
