The Foundation of the English Cemetery of Malaga announced in February 2021, the closure of its historic facilities “due to the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic”, stating that they “were deeply saddened to have reached this situation”.

“2020 has hit very hard the main sources by which the monument, the visits and the cultural activities are financed, and this has forced us to take this decision”, they added.

The facilities closed from Monday to Friday and lost a large part of their cultural offer.

After several efforts by a group of volunteers, a micro-patronage campaign and funding from the Unicaja Foundation, the cemetery has reopened daily this July, with the aim of also recovering the educational activity.

Furthermore, technical improvements are being made, such as increasing the lighting and expansion of the botanical space.

A milestone in the development of religious diversity

The Malaga cemetery is one of the oldest Protestant cemeteries in Spain. Its foundation in 1831 was a milestone in the development of religious diversity in Spain.

“Until then, the death of a Protestant in Spain was a very serious problem because there was no legal framework for that. Since cemeteries were sanctified to the Catholic faith, in Spain the corpses of all those who did not profess that religion could not be buried”, explains the historical description on the website of the monument, which since 2012 has been considered an asset of cultural interest.

It adds: “In Málaga in particular, for non-Catholic burials, the local authorities only allowed corpses to be taken to the beach at night by torchlight to be buried standing on the sand, leaving them at the mercy of the waves and the dogs”.

“Something had to be done”

According to the president of the cemetery Foundation, Bruce McIntyre, “something had to be done because this site has a lot of history and potential to be one of the most interesting European cemeteries”.

The remains of 1,200 people are located in this space. The first British Consul in Malaga, William Mark, and his family, Evangelical Christians who died in 1849 are among them.

There is also the tomb of George Lanworthy, the builder of the first hotel in the town of Torremolinos, who was known as the Englishman of the peseta (former Spanish currency), because he gave one to all the beggars who came to his house asking for one, in exchange for reading a portion of the Bible.

Other well-known names that can be found on the inscriptions on the gravestones are those of the poet Jorge Guillén, the playwright Miguel Romero Esteo, the doctor Joseph William Noble and the surgeon Hamilton Bailey.

“An integral part of Malaga's history”

For the president of the Unicaja Foundation, Braulio Medel, “the abandonment of the English Cemetery would mean for Malaga not only the renunciation of a unique monumental, cultural and historical heritage, but also the oblivion of an essential part of its own spirit, of its special way of being”.

“It is a haven of peace, but it is also an integral part of Malaga's history, of its past as a cosmopolitan city, when foreigners worked here in industry or in the port”, stressed Liz Parry, secretary of the cemetery's foundation.

Among its cultural offerings, the cemetery offers visits for all kinds of audiences, including schoolchildren. They hope to gradually recover their activities from now on. They also plan to offer guided tours in the evenings again. On 26 June, the space already hosted an opera.