Restoration of the Alcazaba

From the 18th century the Alcazaba began to lose its military function and to have a civil use . Due to the state of abandonment of the building, people of low social status took advantage of the ruins to build houses attached to the walls. These houses ended up forming a popular neighborhood , which was in very poor condition: it had no water, lighting, sanitation or cobbled / paved streets, according to the article El Teatro Romano de Málaga: evolution of a space (2007).

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This situation lasted until the 19th century , when urban projects to improve the city began to emerge. One of them even contemplated the demolition of the Alcazaba and its surroundings, as reflected in the article The demolition and urbanization projects of the Alcazaba in Malaga in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (2005).

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From 1931 is when everything changes. At the beginning of the Second Republic , the Alcazaba-Gibralfaro monumental complex was declared a historical-artistic monument . The Roman Theater of Malaga: evolution of a space (2007) highlights that, in that same year, the architect Antonio Palacios and the historian Juan Temboury drew up a project "for the consolidation and replacement of the monument." However, it was in 1933 when Ricardo de Orueta , the then director of the Madrid Academy of Fine Arts, commissioned the architect Leopoldo Torres Balbás to draw up a work plan for the recovery of the Alcazaba.