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Highights

In the surroundings of the Artola Dunes is the Ladrones Tower, an element of military and defensive architecture declared an Asset of Cultural Interest. Its origin seems to date back to Roman times, and was later rebuilt by Arabs and Christians.

In the last century the Torre de la Mar disappeared, which was located in the marina of Marbella, and which served as the basis for the granting of the coat of arms of the city by the Catholic Monarchs. The other tower that disappeared, which was in the 50s of the last century, the Torre del Real Zaragoza, was close to the current Golden Beach urbanization.

The intermediate stretches, which were initially left unprotected and unguarded, were “shortened” or they were complemented, in a second step, with other constructions of lower rank: the beacon towers.

Simple construction. They were minor but important buildings whose fundamental mission, ignoring the defensive, was to complete a surveillance network and establish visual communications between the different towers in order to raise the alarm and have it transmitted to the immediate posts and the threatened populations. . His guards were in charge of this mission.

In Marbella, for example, we have the Duke's Tower in which remains of Roman ceramics appeared at its base and in its upper part, in the chimney interior, Christian ceramic.

When the terrain did not allow a choice and there was no choice but to settle for flat soils, sometimes, at a certain point, they resorted to other means to improve the system. There is documentation from the time that proves this and we can cite the case of a Watch Tower in the Marbella area, which given the low level of the ground and the distance entrusted to its surveillance, the need to increase its height to improve the field of observation and more effectively control the nearby beaches and coves; what we would now call a floor elevation. According to their opinion, the only ones that are outside the canons, in terms of heights, in this area, arethe Torre de Banos and the Torre Ladrones.

Torre Ladrones: Located near the Port of Cabopino, its construction is attributed to the time of Muslim domination and it owes its name to the overhangs protection available (thieves). It is a building in the shape of a square prism, 16 meters high and 3.65 meters on each side. It is the highest on the Malaga coast. It has a construction core that shows, according to studies, that it was widely used by the Nasrids, which is why these studies suggest that at this time there was a primitive tower. Its evolution, in the Christian era, was reconstructed with other materials and other techniques.

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Our coast has been coveted by different civilizations since ancient times, both as a point to establish themselves, as access to the interior, invasions or harassment by pirates and privateers. To protect cities by warning of possible attacks, defensive towers are built on the coastline, strategically located and properly separated from each other.

The Arabs organized a complex surveillance and communication system, both on the coast and inland; After the reconquest, Christians expanded and perfected the system due to the danger of pirate attacks.

In the municipality of Marbella, six of the eight towers that made up the coastal surveillance service are still preserved: Torre Ladrones, Torreon del Lance de las Canas, Torre del Rio Real, Torre del Ancon, Torre del Duque, Torre de las Bovedas.The Cerro Torron Fortress is also preserved.

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