Ayto Vélez-Málaga | Concejalía de Turismo

Attracted by its natural charm, many different civilizations arrived and did not hesitate to settle in the Axarquia, particularly in Vélez Málaga. There were many cultures that left their mark like the Romans, Phoenicians and Carthaginians but it was the Muslim period which left a more profound and important heritage that can be seen in  Velez winding streets revealing an important past during which it used to be called Bellix Malaca (Málaga valley).

The city proudly shows its legacy in its mostly Christian architectural heritage under which the Muslim defeat is buried. The first news we had about Vélez Málaga was in the XII century when a chronicler called Ibn Baskuwal talks about “Ballis min nazar Rayya” which is Velez, of Raya jurisdiction. Starting in the XIII century during the Nazar period, many citations appear on the city as it became the Regional Administrative Centre.

Among the most important monuments, we have The Moorish Fortress and its walls, churches built on the old Mosques like Santa María de la Concepción, San Juan Bautista, Las Claras, Las Carmelitas Convent, San Francisco Convent, and Chapels and Shrines, among  which Cerro de San Cristobal and Nuestra Señora de los Remedios Sanctuary (the city’s patron saint) stand out.

Living up to its reputation as a strong city, it was able to overcome the most dramatic and complicated events after the XIX century such as earthquakes, the 1804 epidemic  that wiped out 60 per cent of the population and the War of Independence among other disasters that made this period one of the hardest for Velez Malaga.
The population has patiently waited for very important projects that now have placed the city at the gates of the XXI century and among those with the greatest development possibilities.

Since pre-historic times, this municipality has always been willing to offer the best of itself to those who came to its shores.  In fact, one of Velez Malaga’s greatest source of pride is Don Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra’s comment about the city in his book called “El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha”, part I chapter 41. “Let’s thank God, gentlemen, for leading us all to such a lovely place! Because, if I am not mistaken, the land we are walking on is Vélez Málaga”.