In addition to the watchtower itself, there is also a Costa del Sol Watchtower Interpretation Centre and a museum in which the visitor can discover the story behind the landing of General Torrijos on these shores, see how the towers worked and learn about different fishing techniques.

DETAILS

It is both the headquarters of the Tourist Office of La Cala and the Interpretation Centre of Mijas Costa watchtowers.

The project for the creation of a dedicated ethnographic-historical sea museum and watchtowers on the coast of Mijas is motivated by a cultural and tourist attractions of the City Council in a predominantly tourist area. This requires a strong social and economic dependency of the population on the tourism industry and among other objectives aims to use a historic landmark building that is currently closed to the public. The “social cost” implies not only positive achievements in the cultural and tourist industry but also in terms of educational, economic and social aspects concerning La Cala de Mijas.

With the creation of this Interpretation Center in the Battery Tower of La Cala, two cultural goals of great importance and significance in the town are met. Firstly, its brings to life the Battery Tower of La Cala, popularly known as “Torreón” of La Cala, after a careful and respectful restoration in order to suit the needs of a Center of this kind.

Secondly, it helps to retrieve and disseminate historical heritage of local people. To do so, three facts—two historical and one ethnographic—have been taking into account for designing three different spaces or exhibition halls:

a) Room Towers

This space shows the origin of coastal surveillance and, in particular, the case of Mijas Costa, and the resources used, including scale reproductions of the four towers that exist in the town, playback of historical texts, a video about the features of this defence towers system, and the creation of a computer database.

b) Torrijos Room

This room pays tribute to freedom and the defence of the constitutional order. The pretext is the landing of General Torrijos in the beach of El Charcón and the character of General Torrijos himself.

Through texts and original drawings, the landing of Torrijos on the beaches of Mijas is depicted along with the itinerary he and his men followed through the town of Mijas until reaching the farmhouse of Alhaurín de la Torre, where they were captured and subsequently shot without trial in the Málaga beach of San Andrés.

c) Chamber of traditional fisheries

The fishing past of La Cala will be the star of this space. Fishing boats as “traiña”, “jábega”, “sardinal” and the “patera” and other traditional goods with fishing resources serve to explain the ways of life and other aspects related to this activity in La Cala.