Torremolinos from the heights. Discover our route through the viewpoints of our city
17 mayo, 2019
Family vacation in Torremolinos
20 mayo, 2019
If you walk along San Miguel Street towards Bajondillo Beach, among souvenir shops, you will find the main monument of Torremolinos, it is a large tower, about 12 meters high, known as the Pimentel Tower or the Mills, which is therefore what gives the city its name: Molina Tower, the tower that defends the mills.
Its story
Built between the 13th and 14th centuries by the Nasrid Muslim dynasty, it is one of the coastal watchtowers that lined the border with the Mediterranean. Around it, there were located different mills, which used the force supplied by the water channeled from the springs that are at the bottom of the mountain in the foothills of Sierra de Mijas.
It was a strategic enclave of first order, because this tower was in charge of warning of the dangers that were produced on the west coast, by signals, to the defenses of the capital, Málaqa, as well as protecting a group of mills and a point to make water, so necessary for the supply of boats.
In the distributions of 1497 that the Catholic Kings carry out after the conquest of Malaga, both the tower and the mills are cited as part of a concession or prize to Rodrigo de Pimentel for his military services during the war, although he did not take possession of them, passing to municipal property. The same happened in other coastal enclaves by the cost of maintaining them and their danger from piracy.
The tower has maintained its use as a defensive element throughout the modern and contemporary era, being therefore maintained and reformed according to the needs of each era, closing some windows and opening others. From its privileged position on the edge of the cliff that dominates the neighborhood of Bajondillo, has witnessed the evolution of this miller neighborhood. Surrounding it there were the mills of Rosario and of the Tower, underneath the Vault mill (Molino de la Bóveda) that still retains much of its primitive structure today. They were followed by the mills of Pato, Caracol, Esperanza, Gloria, de la Cruz, El Nuevo and in the sand of the beach El Molino del Peligro.
One of the most remarkable episodes in the history of this miller district was its destruction in 1704 by the admiral of the English army that had just taken Gibraltar, Sir George Rooke, who, after attacking the port of Malaga, decided to make water in Torremolinos and strategically weaken the capital by destroying the mills that fed it. To prevent further attacks, a battery of guns was placed next to the base of the wall in 1755. This fact gives rise to the toponym Mirador de las cañoneras to the space where these cannons were located right on the edge of the escarpment in front of the tower.
The neighborhood continued with its milling activity until the first third of the 20th century. When with the second brought of water to Málaga, Torremolinos loses the motor force of its main industry and gradually begins to reinvent itself with something as novel as tourism.
How is the Tower?
The Torre Pimentel is built on the edge of a cliff between San Miguel Street and Cuesta del Tajo. In its construction highlights the use of the tapial technique, like in the Alcazaba of Málaga. It has a height of 12 meters, with a solid base and two floors. Its shape is square with a tendency to the prism, with the lower part being somewhat wider than the upper part. At its base, on the north and south faces, there are some raised in the form of ravelins, perhaps to contribute to their better defense against changes in war strategies.
The access to the tower, as usual, was done through the use of a hideout for thieves and a rope ladder that was collected to protect the lighthouse keeper. Inside, the first floor presents a large room divided by a large arch, which helps to support the second floor which is divided into three small rooms separated by arches of solid brick. On all sides there are openings to facilitate surveillance work. Inside, attached to the north and west walls, there is a staircase that connects each floor and the terrace. Although today,it is not available for visitis, its situation will change soon after the remodeling project that is going to be carried out by the town hall of Torremolinos.
Remodeling and Valorization
Despite being a monument with great historical value for Torremolinos and declared by Junta de Andalucía as Property of Cultural Interest since 1985, at this time it is not possible to visit it, mainly due to the difficulty in its accessibility.
However, this emblematic monument is being subject to a restoration plan as well as its immediate surroundings where it is intended to put in value after a remodeling, proceeding to the withdrawal of commercial signs, awnings and enclosures of surrounding land that hinder the vision of the fortification.
The rehabilitation of Torre Pimentel is part of a commitment to renew the surroundings of Cuesta del Tajo, Peligro Street and Costa del Sol Square, recently inaugurated.
