The Top Museums to Visit in Marbella

Opened in 1992, Marbella’s Contemporary Engravings Museum is housed in a beautiful 16th-century building that was once a hospital. Its permanent collection comprises around 4,000 works and explores the history of printing and engraving in Spain. Pieces of art by some of the country’s most important artists, including 20th-century painters Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró, are also on display.

Marbella’s Museo Bonsai is home to Europe’s largest collection of wild olive trees, one of which is 300 years old. But as fascinating as these are, it is the collection of mini trees that make this one of the province’s quirkiest and most enjoyable museums. Some of the miniature specimens are native to the rugged hills outside Marbella, and were on the verge of extinction before being rescued by the museum.

Located just three miles to the west of Marbella (about a 10-minute drive) is the Museo Ralli, home to one of Europe’s most prestigious collections of Latin American art. Attractively displayed in a series of spacious, white rooms are paintings and sculptures by leading 20th-century artists such as Salvador Dali, Marc Chagall and Leopoldo Torres Agüero.

Marbella’s Cortijo Miralflores Cultural Centre is housed in an elegant 18th-century building that was once used as a sugar mill and an olive oil factory (with an animal traction-operated olive press). Nowadays, it is home to two fascinating museums, one of which showcases items relating to Marbella’s crucial olive oil industry. Its centrepiece is a cast-iron, hydraulic olive press from the latter half of the 19th century.