A few years ago, the Estepona authorities adopted an integrated promotion plan. One of its main objectives was to make the city’s spaces more attractive for tourism and commerce. In this way, urban routes were created where we can admire various forms of artistic expression by artists from Spain and around the world.
La Ruta de murales – along the trail of urban murals
The EsteponaMurals Route(La Ruta de Murales Artísticos de Estepona) is a remarkable project that has succeeded in revitalising neglected and forgotten neighbourhoods by putting urban art on the walls. In this way, they have been given a completely new dimension, while at the same time attracting the attention of tourists coming to Spain and the Costa del Sol. Today, we can admire more than 60 murals by Spanish artists on the walls of buildings scattered throughout the old town and other neighbourhoods of Estepona.
If you are interested in urban art, you can see a full list and map of all the paintings here.
La Ruta de poesia – poetry on the city walls
The Ruta de poesia is another of the trails that gives the city an amazing character and attracts tourists and art fans. In various corners of Estepona’s historic centre there are 30 plaques in the style of azulejos (painted tiles derived from the Arabic architectural style – mudejar), on which we can find the content of poems by renowned poets. Much of the poetry displayed on the city’s walls is the work of Spanish poets, but there is also no shortage of foreign authors. Among them is a Polish accent – one of the walls features a poem by the Nobel Prize winner Wisława Szymborska entitled “Nothing Twice”.
In addition, on the poetry trail we also have the opportunity to get to know the work of artists such as:
- Rainer Maria Rilke – Austro-Hungarian poet,
- Andrej Stankovič – Czech poet who carried out all his literary activity in the underground,
- William Shakespeare – you will find his idyllic comedy As You Like It on the walls,
- Victor Hugo – on one of the azulejos we have the opportunity to read an excerpt from the poem ‘Man and Woman’.
A full list of the poems placed on the walls and their locations can be found here.
La Ruta de esculturas – along the sculpture trail
The Ruta de esculturas in Estepona is the third of the routes created to promote the art of the city itself. The 51 sculptures and monuments in Estepona pay tribute to important figures and events of the city, region and country. These include:
- “Monumento a la peseta ” – a sculpture by Joaquin Aquiler, depicting a Spanish coin from 1944,
- “Monumento a la Constitucion ” – an iron monument with engraved values that form the basis of the Spanish Constitution,
- ‘Costaleros‘ – a monument by Francisco Galan Dominguez,
- “Perro I” – the last of the trail’s sculptures, which can be admired on the seafront and was created by Rafael Macarrón, one of Spain’s best-known artists.
12 of all the sculptures listed are in the Museo al aire libre, located on El Angel beach. A list of all the sculptures and where you can admire them can be found here.
If you appreciate sculpture, while in Estepona you must also visit Marbella, where you will find one-of-a-kind sculptures by Salvador Dali on Avenida del Mar and in Puerto Banus!
