Eastern Costa del Sol town to invest in improvements to important archaeological site

Rincón de la Victoria town hall on the eastern Costa del Sol has announced plans to improve the old Bezmiliana castle as part of its strategy to protect the historical and cultural heritage of the town. The Castillo de Bezmiliana is an asset of cultural interest (BIC) and shouldn't be confused with Casa Fuerte Bezmiliana which is also in Rincón de la Victoria.

Malaga's provincial commission of historical heritage, which comes under the Junta de Andalucía regional government, gave the green light to the project during a meeting on 18 June. It will have a total budget of 792,550 euros, 65% of which has been requested as co-financing in the last call of 2023 of the 2% Cultural Programme of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda.

The project foresees three main areas: a study of the archaeological site as a whole, the enhancement of the fortress and adaptation of routes and accesses.

During a meeting between the town hall and the Andalusian government representative for Malaga, Patricia Navarro, the mayor of Rincón, Francisco Salado, said, "We need to conserve, protect and properly disseminate our main sites to preserve and enhance the historical heritage of the municipality and we do this in collaboration with the other administrations such as the regional and state, requesting the necessary authorisations and co-funding to be able to undertake them."

He highlighted the importance of the Bezmiliana castle as "key to understanding the history of the Muslim occupation in our province".

The intervention, whose tender for the works will be published in the coming months, once the final resolution of the aid from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda is published, is part of the Master Plan for Historical Heritage, approved in a pioneering way by the City Council in 2020, and which includes various actions for the recovery of the local historical legacy.

The Castillo de Bezmiliana site, which should not be confused with the Casa-Fuerte de Bezmiliana, is located in the centre of Rincón de la Victoria, the most significant remains being located at the top of the Castillón hill.