PICASSO MUSEUM OF MÁLAGA IN THE BUENAVISTA PALACE

The idea of creating a Picasso Museum in Málaga does not begin with the 2003 opening. In 1953, Pablo Picasso was in contact with Juan Temboury Álvarez, the Fine Arts delegate, with the intention of donating works so that Málaga would have a gallery devoted to the artist. That first attempt did not come off and the project was blocked for years.

The definitive push comes decades later, after two exhibitions in the 1990s that revived interest in the city. At that point, Picasso's family took up the initiative again and Christine Ruiz Picasso and Bernard Ruiz Picasso came into the picture, donating a broad set of works to a foundation created for the museum. The Regional Government of Andalusia acquired the building and the museum opened its doors on 27 October 2003.

Since it opened, the museum has drawn high numbers from day one, with close to 2,000 visitors at the inauguration, and over time it has passed 10 million visits, establishing itself as one of the best-attended museums in Andalusia.

The Picasso Museum of Málaga is housed in the Palace of the Counts of Buenavista, a Renaissance building constructed around 1530–1540. Before becoming the museum's home, it was a stately residence and for years it also served as the home of the Fine Arts Museum. With the creation of the museum, the property was refurbished and enlarged, incorporating contemporary spaces and part of the archaeological finds located beneath the building.

The palace keeps features characteristic of Andalusian Renaissance civil architecture. The visit lets you pick out the porticoed courtyard as the core of the building, along with a tower and façade details with Renaissance carvings. That structure shapes the route, because the museum is not only about the rooms: it is also about how the space is organised within a historic building.

During the refurbishment, archaeological remains from different periods of the city appeared, and the museum incorporated them as part of the whole. In the basement, vestiges from the Phoenician, Roman and Arab periods are built in, which adds a second reading to the visit: as well as the collection, the building lets you see historic layers earlier than the Renaissance palace

Inside the Picasso Museum of Málaga the route rests on a permanent collection of some 240 works that lets you follow the evolution of Pablo Ruiz Picasso from his earliest training pieces through to periods of greater experimentation. The visit does not focus on a single phase, but on seeing how his way of working changes as his career advances, with pieces that help you identify the shift from a more academic approach to languages such as Cubism and other later strands.

In the galleries, alongside painting, there are works showing that Picasso did not limit himself to one format: you see sculptures and ceramics, together with other pieces that broaden the reading of his work and his relationship with different materials and techniques. This makes the visit work well if you want to understand his path period by period, without depending on a single style or a single era of the artist.

As well as the permanent collection, the Picasso Museum of Málaga programmes temporary exhibitions that broaden the visit with specific angles. These shows explore relationships with other artists and themes linked to Picasso, with recent examples of dialogues between Picasso and figures such as Dalí or Federico García Lorca. This format gives you a reason to come back to the museum other than the fixed collection and to follow the cultural programme.

The same building brings together services that round off the experience: a library, a screening room, a café and a shop. These are spaces designed for looking up information, viewing content linked to the exhibitions and having somewhere to pause before or after going round the galleries.

The Picasso Museum of Málaga opens every day at 10:00, except at Christmas and New Year. The closing time changes with the season: in winter it closes at 18:00, in spring and autumn at 19:00 and in summer at 20:00. Last admission is allowed 30 minutes before closing.

General admission costs around €13 and includes an audio guide. The reduced rate is around €11 for categories such as seniors and students. Entry is free for under-17s, people with disabilities and registered unemployed people. In addition, on most Sunday afternoons, during the last two hours before closing, access is free for everyone.

To organise your visit and cut down on queuing at the ticket office, buying online from the museum's website means you arrive with your ticket already sorted.

This guided visit goes round the Picasso Museum of Málaga inside, starting at the Buenavista Palace, at C. San Agustín, 8, 29015 Málaga. The activity lasts 1 hour and 15 minutes, designed so you take in the visit with a continuous explanation as you move through the rooms.

The booking includes admission to the Picasso Museum and an official tour guide, so that the collection and the building itself can be read with context along the way.

As for rates, the price is €30 adults (over 15), €18 children (8 to 15), €10 children (3 to 7) and €0 under-3s. Cancellation is free up to 24 hours before the activity

When you leave the Picasso Museum of Málaga, you are still inside the old town, so it is easy to link the visit with other points that fit both by location and by context. From the Buenavista Palace you can carry on towards the Plaza de la Merced, where Pablo Ruiz Picasso was born on 25 October 1881, and round off that part with the Picasso Birthplace Museum, focused on his childhood years in the city.

If you would rather keep to a route around the monuments of the centre, the museum can also be combined with the Alcazaba of Málaga and the Roman Theatre, which are just a few steps away. It is a way of stringing together, in the same route, the museum and two places that help you read historic Málaga around the port and the city centre.