Torre del Mar
Torre del Mar is a locality on the southern coast of Spain, in the municipality of Vélez-Málaga,[1] Axarquía, located in the province of Málaga.
[2] There was also once a Punic-Roman city called Maenoba or Menoba (Cerro del Mar), at the mouth of the river Velez, which was a production and distribution centre for the famous Roman garum.
However, it wasn’t until 1730 that important reformation of the castle was undertaken to adapt it for artillery, with the aim of relieving, as much as possible, the effects of the attacks from the British naval fleet.
It was in this latter century, in 1704, that the waters of this coast witnessed a bloody naval conflict (the Battle of Velez-Málaga) between Franco-Spanish and Anglo-Dutch fleets as part of the Spanish War of Succession.
The basic pillars of the economy of Torre del Mar was agriculture, fishing, and trade, this last one was facilitated by the enormous inlet, although the lack of port structures greatly limited activity since the goods had to be transported by barge.
What is true is that Torre del Mar became the port of the Axarquia region and the majority of its agricultural produce (wines, raisins, oil, almonds, dried figs, citrus fruit etc.)
The 19th century saw a decline in commercial growth due to the lack of necessary infrastructure, at the time of increased exploitation of sugar cane.
The preindustrial activity in this area started in 1796, the year in which José García Navarrete asked for authorisation to build a sugar mill.
In the mid-19th century, Torre del Mar had a council, although this was for a brief period of 4–6 years (1842-1848), this is recorded in Pascual Madoz’s "Geographical, Statistical, Historical Dictionary of Spain and its overseas possessions".
There were many stores, a large place for salting products alongside a salt store, a primary school, a church dedicated to the calling of Saint Andrew the Apostle, a hermitage dedicated to Our Lady of Las Angustias (to which the entrance has recently been recovered), a cemetery as well as a number of wells and mills.
The Malaga-Almeria road was built around the year 1869; this determined the urban structure of Torre del Mar which was moved closer to the sea.
However, it wasn’t until the second half of that century that this phenomenon, now a mass activity, altered the physiognomy completely by making the number of inhabitants and built-up areas grow.
Of the many different elements the glass tower in the shape of an inverted cone stands out, its function was to control the races and auxiliary lights.
The building is an example of the modern movement from the second half of the 20th century, and manifests the unique uses of a maritime town such as Torre del Mar.
This coastal bastion was once small in size and its purpose was to watch the coast and protect the boats that docked in the natural port.
In this reformation, they added a second front made up of two small curtains joined to the artillery battery which occupied the centre, and on the ends, two towers which already existed in the old space.
The castle also boasted the military building and stores, its second great function being the storage of agricultural products from all over the county, (such as raisins, wine and citrus fruit) ready for export.
Of particular note is its great height and large bays which were decorated with bare brick in the same style as the corners of the building which nowadays are covered but can be seen from outside.
There is a small entrance porch with two iron poles and decoration, on either side is a set of tiles from Seville dating from the nineteenth century.
These tiles make up the image of the Immaculate Conception, in the style of a small altar which comes from one of the villas of Paseo Larios street, which has since been knocked down.
At the front there is a porch with two Tuscan columns with sculpted cyma, it also has a particularly interesting stucco border with a relief showing motifs of plants.
The building is industrial in style and has a square base supporting a rectangular prism with a number of windows opening to the outside of the lighthouse.
It was around 1796, when José García Navarrete started producing sugar in Torre del Mar, yet it wasn’t until 1846, under Ramón de la Sagra, that the new Factory was built in the Cuban, industrial style using steam machinery.
Due to the urban development and population increase of Torre del Mar at the end of the 1960s, the town outgrew the old neo-mudejar church, so the drastic decision to build a new temple was made.
The new building was in the modernist style, in the shape of a basilica, the layout and decoration was as prescribed by the second Vatican council predominantly reflecting simplicity, austerity and good feeling.
Traditional decoration and ornaments are considered obstacles to 'correct' worship, which led the Church to minimalism, in which the figures of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary should be focal and clear.
The building is clearly[citation needed] reminiscent of the kind of architecture of housing which is closely linked to areas of leisure for the bourgeoisie of the era, who enjoyed the rooms on the weekends and in summer for entertainment and relaxation.
