Council orders Palestinian decoration of building in historic city centre to be painted over

The tourist apartment complex on the corner of Calle Parra and Calle Alta in Malaga city radically changed its external appearance last year. It is an establishment with 13 apartments that opened its doors in 2015 and whose previous owners, following an extension towards Calle Alta, opted to decorate the façade of one of the floors on that side with drawings that imitated the baroque paintings on buildings from that period in this area around the church of San Felipe Neri. SUR reported in 2019 on that singular initiative of the previous owners of the flats who wanted to pay homage to one of the hallmarks of the old quarter of Malaga city.

The building was sold in June 2020 to the Claude Hotels company, which carried out the decoration of the façade at the beginning of last year. Its manager, Stelian Voicu, explained that the drawings that filled the two façades of the apartment complex were inspired by a Palestinian decoration "that signifies the struggle for freedom".

However, the 'freedom' when it came to creating these drawings, which according to Voicu had the necessary municipal permits, violated the protected environment in which the building is located. It is within the scope of the Special Plan for Protection and Interior Reform (PEPRI) of the Historic Centre of Malaga, and also within the area protected as an asset of cultural interest by the Junta de Andalucía, so any changes made to it must be authorised by the local and regional administrations.

The municipal Urban Planning department opened proceedings against the owner of the building and ordered it to remove the Palestinian decoration applied to the façades and restore them to tones in keeping with the area. "We are going to do what the law requires," Stelian Voicu told SUR a few days ago.