Less than a year after its unveiling, the upcoming CaixaForum in Malaga is advancing rapidly, staged in phases to meet its ambitious schedule. The cultural center is planned to open its doors in 2026.
Today, Malaga City Council and la Caixa Foundation will unveil the project details. The design is by Catalan architect Felipe Pich-Aguilera. The presentation takes place in the Hall of Mirrors, with Isidro Faine, president of la Caixa Foundation, and Elisa Durán, deputy director general of the foundation, alongside Malaga mayor Francisco de la Torre, participating in the event.
The facility will sit at the city’s edge on a dual parcel adjacent to the Provincial Police Department, occupying an 8,200 square meter gross land area that has been zoned for development since late last year. The land is owned by the Malaga City Council. The municipality assumed ownership from a previous owner after negotiations with the regional authorities, a move long sought by local governments and cultural planners. The Andalusian Junta finalized the land transfer last December, following an urban planning agreement established in the late eighties.
That land transfer, completed 35 years after the original agreement between the Board of Directors and the Malaga City Council, marks the crucial step toward the project’s definitive launch. As mayor Francisco de la Torre noted, it represents a pivotal milestone in the city’s cultural strategy, inserting a space capable of hosting up to six rotating exhibitions annually. These exhibitions will be organized through partnerships with world-renowned museums including the Prado, Pompidou, the British Museum, and the Louvre, reinforcing Malaga’s standing as a major cultural hub.
CaixaForum Malaga will showcase art spanning a wide spectrum of movements, from visual arts to cinema, comics, and audiovisual cultures. The center will feature two dedicated exhibition halls and flexible multi-purpose areas designed for entertainment and education. A core objective is to help reduce the digital divide by broadening access to culture and learning opportunities for residents across the region.
CaixaForum Network
With the Malaga project, the CaixaForum network expands within Spain, joining a group of centers managed by la Caixa Foundation. The network, which reached a significant milestone in 2023 with 4.5 million visitors, places Malaga alongside CosmoCaixa, the science museum in Barcelona. The initiative traces its roots to the first CaixaForum, which opened in Madrid in 2002, followed by venues in Valencia, Zaragoza, Seville, Palma, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Over the past three decades, the partnership with la Caixa Foundation has supported the organization of fifty exhibitions across the network, underscoring a long-standing commitment to culture and community engagement.