Laurence Crumbie
THE Malaga Provincial Council (La Diputacion de Malaga) is going to invest over €316,000 in restoring the medieval Castillo de la Estrella in Teba, Malaga, as part of the Provincial Assistance and Cooperation Plan announced in early November.
The aim of the project is to preserve the remains of the defensive walls, flanking towers and the perimeter wall on the northern side, as they are ‘in danger of deteriorating irreversibly.’
According to the council, restoration workers will only intervene “where there are significant problems, consolidating the buildings and completing them in a timely manner where pieces have come loose or construction material has been looted, differentiating the old and the new.”
These plans constitute the next phase of renovation on the site, building on the work done already on the main tower and the nearby Torre albarrana; an archaeological evaluation will be conducted as well.
The Castle of the Star, to use its English name, was built in the 12th century by the Almohads, a Berber confederation, and is the largest castle in all of Malaga province. It was conquered by King Alfonso XI in 1330 as part of a Christian offensive in which several Scottish knights participated, including Sir James Douglas, who later became a hero in his homeland.
