Marbella
Encyclopedia
Marbella is a town in Andalusia
, Spain. It is situated on the Mediterranean Sea
, in the province of Málaga
, beneath the La Concha mountain. In 2000 the city had 98,823 inhabitants, in 2004, 116,234, in 2010 approximately 135,000.
Marbella and nearby Puerto Banús
are important tourist resorts on the Costa del Sol
. Marbella is especially popular with tourists from Northern Europe
(including the UK, Ireland
and Germany
), Saudi Arabia
, U.A.E. and the U.S.A.
Marbella is particularly known for the rich and famous, a very popular destination for celebrities and wealthy people. It is also a major destination for luxury cruise ships and mega yachts which are also often docked in its harbour.
Marbella is specially popular with those who like golf
and marinas. In the area around the city there are concentrated many private estates and luxury hotels. Marbella also hosts a WTA
tennis tournament on red clay, the Andalucia Tennis Experience
.
From Marbella it is easy to reach other places, like Málaga
, Estepona
, Torremolinos
, Fuengirola
or Gibraltar
by bus. The area is also served by the A7 autovia, and the closest airport is Málaga-Costa Del Sol
.
n and later Carthaginian
settlements in the area of Rio Real. In Roman
times, the city was called "Salduba" (Salt City).
During Islamic rule
, the Moors
built a castle in this city. The name Marbella, which is derived from Marbil-la, dates from this Islamic era. The traveller Ibn Battuta
characterised the town as "a pretty little town in a fertile district." In 1485, the city fell to Christian forces
.
In the 1940s, Marbella was a small jasmine-lined village with only 900 inhabitants. But this soon changed when Prince Max Egon zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg
and his heir Alfonso de Hohenlohe
experienced a problem with their Rolls-Royce in the vicinity. This first encounter with Marbella so impressed Alfonso that he decided to buy land commercially, marketing the area as a tourist destination. In 1954, he opened the Marbella Club Hotel
; his son had recently returned from California
and the hotel was loosely modelled on the motel
style with lower pitched terracotta roofs among 23,000 trees.
Given Alfonso's maternal membership in Spain's titled aristocracy (his mother, Doña Piedad Iturbe and Scholtz, was the Marquesa
de Belvis de las Navas), and his paternal kinship to the royal courts
of Europe, the hotel quickly proved a hit with vacationing members of Europe's ruling elites, and those privileged to socialise with them in casual yet discreet luxury. Don Jaime de Mora y Aragón, a Spanish bon vivant, brother to Fabiola, Queen of the Belgians, Adnan Khashoggi
and Guenter Rottman, were frequent vacationers.
Typical was a gala held in August 1998 as a fundraiser at the Marbella club for AIDS
relief NGO. Prince Alfonso presided, supported by the sons of his first marriage to Princess Ira von Fürstenberg
, an Agnelli
heiress who arrived with her own entourage; Princess Marie-Louise of Prussia (great-granddaughter of Kaiser Wilhelm II) who, with her husband Count Rudolf "Rudi" von Schönburg
–Glauchau
, would eventually take over the Marbella Club Hotel from Prince Alfonso; and socialite Countess Gunilla von Bismarck.
In 1974, Prince Fahd
arrived at the city after having broken the bank of the Casino of Montecarlo. Until his death in 2005, he was a frequent and profitable guest at Marbella, where his retinue of over a thousand people spending petro-dollars was welcome, including the then-anonymous Osama bin Laden
.
In the eighties, Marbella continued to be a destination for the jet set
, with the most recognizable face being that of Gunilla von Bismarck. However, problems arose in 1987 when Melodie Nakachian, a daughter of Raymond Nakachian, a local billionaire philanthropist and the Korean singer Kimera
was kidnapped, putting the city in the focus of the media.
In 1991, the builder and president of Atlético Madrid, Jesús Gil y Gil was elected by a wide majority as mayor of Marbella for his own party, the Independent Liberal Group
(GIL in Spanish), promising to fight petty crime and the declining prestige associated with the region. Amongst other things, he used, as an international spokesman for the city, actor Sean Connery
who later ended this relationship after his image was used for electoral purpose by Gil.
The city also experimented with extensive building activity under the administration of Gil, with critics stating that this construction was often performed without regard for the existing urban plan and thus new plans were stopped by the Andalusian government. Something of a maverick, Gil despised town-hall formalities instead ruling from his office at the Club Financiero. Criticism was levelled at Gil by the major parties of Spain (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
and People's Party
) but this did not convince enough voters to oust him and Spanish celebrities continued to spend summers there. Gil's GIL extended to other Costa del Sol towns like Estepona
and across the Strait of Gibraltar to the Spanish African cities of Ceuta
and Melilla
.
This period brought an appraisal of the city but also investigations of corruption. Eventually, Jesús Gil was forced to resign in 2002 after being jailed for diverting public funds for Atlético. He was succeeded by Julián Muñoz, a former waiter then well-known for being romantically engaged with singer Isabel Pantoja
with more than one hundred trials for corruption following. Muñoz was overthrown by his own party which elected Marisol Yagüe, a former secretary, as the new mayor. Muñoz and Gil took part in a scandalous debate on television where both accused each other of having robbed public funds.
The situation exploded in March 2006, when Yagüe was jailed as the city council was near bankruptcy. According to unsubstantiated testimony, Muñoz and Yagüe were puppets in the hands of Antonio Roca, a councilman who got the job after failing in private business and gathering substantial wealth while working as a public servant. While Yagüe was in jail, the city council was run by Tomás Reñones
, a former Atlético Madrid football player, who ended up in jail as well. On April 8, 2006, the Spanish government decided to suspend the council
, the first time such a course of action was taken in Spanish democracy http://www.citymayors.com/politics/marbella_corruption.html.
After a short period of interim government, municipal elections were held in May 2007. The People's Party
(PP) gained a majority with 16 out of the total of 26 councillors. The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
(PSOE) had 10 councillors, United Left
(IU) had 1. . The Mayoress is Maria Angeles Muñoz, leader of the People's Party in Marbella. In the municipal elections of May 2011 the PP won 15 seats, the PSOE 7, IU 2 with three independents elected.
's Torrente
comedy film series took its second part Torrente 2: Misión en Marbella
(2001
, the highest grossing Spanish film ever) to Marbella, where the repulsive cop José Luis Torrente meets the kitsch inhabitants of the city in an intrigue of international politics.
Marbella was featured in the popular political thriller, Syriana
. It was used as the location for a private party which an Arab
ian Emir
hosts. Marbella was portrayed as an extremely affluent city with most cars at the entrance of the palace being very expensive. In the same year it appeared in Steven Spielberg
's Munich
in a very similar context.
In 2006, there was an international advertisement advertising Marbella as a tourist destination. The song on the advert is aptly called Marbella and is performed by singer Cristie
.
The Finnish
1985 comedy film Uuno Epsanjassa
is situated in Marbella.
Many other movies and TV programmes such as Nip/Tuck
portray it as a playground for the rich.
ITV aired a TV programme in spring 2007 called Marbella Belles which portrays a series of British women who now live in Marbella with their rich partners.
Cast of Living On The Edge
visit on the fourth episode of the first season.
It is also referenced in the stage play "Noises Off
" by Michael Frayn. The character Phillip and his wife Belinda have been tax exile
s in Spain. The character Gary thinks he and his guest are alone in the house, when he spots Phillip, and thinks he's a ghost.
Gary: "Hold on a second, you're not from the other world!"
Phillip: "Yes, yes, Marbella!"
Carlos Baute
's song "Colgando en tus Manos" mentions him and his love vacationing in Marbella and Marta Sanchez sings this line in their duet version of the song.
Simon Cowell for series 7 of the X Factor went to Marbella for his Judges House with the groups with Sinnita.
The cast of the ITV2 show The Only Way is Essex
visited Marbella in the summer of 2011, and it was mentioned many times in the second series, where they nicknamed the resort "Marbs".
Baler
, Philippines Cabourg
, France Doha
, Qatar
Jeddah
, Saudi Arabia. Miami Beach
, United States Nabeul
, Tunisia
Nevers
, France Punta del Este
, Uruguay
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
, Spain. It is situated on the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
, in the province of Málaga
Málaga (province)
The Province of Málaga is located on the southern coast of Spain, in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the South, and by the provinces of Cádiz, Sevilla, Córdoba and Granada.Its area is 7,308 km²...
, beneath the La Concha mountain. In 2000 the city had 98,823 inhabitants, in 2004, 116,234, in 2010 approximately 135,000.
Marbella and nearby Puerto Banús
Puerto Banús
Puerto José Banús, more commonly known as Puerto Banús is a marina located in the area of Nueva Andalucía, to the southwest of Marbella, Spain on the Costa del Sol. It was built in May 1970 by José Banús, a local property developer, as a luxury marina and shopping complex for the rich and famous...
are important tourist resorts on the Costa del Sol
Costa del Sol
The Costa del Sol is a region in the south of Spain, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, comprising the coastal towns and communities along the Mediterranean coastline of the Málaga province. The Costa del Sol is situated between two lesser known costas: Costa de la Luz and Costa Tropical...
. Marbella is especially popular with tourists from Northern Europe
Northern Europe
Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. Northern Europe typically refers to the seven countries in the northern part of the European subcontinent which includes Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland and Sweden...
(including the UK, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
), Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
, U.A.E. and the U.S.A.
Marbella is particularly known for the rich and famous, a very popular destination for celebrities and wealthy people. It is also a major destination for luxury cruise ships and mega yachts which are also often docked in its harbour.
Marbella is specially popular with those who like golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
and marinas. In the area around the city there are concentrated many private estates and luxury hotels. Marbella also hosts a WTA
Women's Tennis Association
The Women's Tennis Association , founded in 1973 by Billie Jean King, is the principal organizing body of Women's Professional Tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women. Its counterpart organization in the men's professional game is the Association of...
tennis tournament on red clay, the Andalucia Tennis Experience
Andalucia Tennis Experience
The Andalucia Tennis Experience is a professional women's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. The inaugural edition was in 2009. The event is affiliated with the Women's Tennis Association and is an International tournament on the WTA Tour....
.
From Marbella it is easy to reach other places, like Málaga
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...
, Estepona
Estepona
Estepona is a town and municipality in the region of the Costa del Sol, southern Spain. It is located in the province of Málaga, part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. Estepona is renowned for its beaches, which stretch along some 21 km of coastline...
, Torremolinos
Torremolinos
Torremolinos is a municipality on the Costa del Sol of the Mediterranean, immediately to the west of the city of Málaga, in the province of Málaga in the autonomous region of Andalusia in southern Spain...
, Fuengirola
Fuengirola
Fuengirola, in ancient times known as Suel and then Suhayl, is a large town and municipality on the Costa del Sol in the province of Málaga, autonomous community of Andalusia in southern Spain. It is a major tourist resort, with more than 8 km of beaches, and home to a mediæval Moorish fortress...
or Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
by bus. The area is also served by the A7 autovia, and the closest airport is Málaga-Costa Del Sol
Málaga Airport
Málaga Airport , also known as Malaga Costa Del Sol Airport and Pablo Ruiz Picasso Airport, is the fourth busiest airport in Spain after Madrid-Barajas, Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca. It is an important airport for Spanish tourism as it is the main international airport serving the Costa Del Sol....
.
History
Archaeological excavations have been made in the mountains around Marbella, which point at human habitation in Paleolithic and Neolithic times. There are also remains of PhoeniciaPhoenicia
Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...
n and later Carthaginian
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
settlements in the area of Rio Real. In Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
times, the city was called "Salduba" (Salt City).
During Islamic rule
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...
, the Moors
Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
built a castle in this city. The name Marbella, which is derived from Marbil-la, dates from this Islamic era. The traveller Ibn Battuta
Ibn Battuta
Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta , or simply Ibn Battuta, also known as Shams ad–Din , was a Muslim Moroccan Berber explorer, known for his extensive travels published in the Rihla...
characterised the town as "a pretty little town in a fertile district." In 1485, the city fell to Christian forces
Reconquista
The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...
.
In the 1940s, Marbella was a small jasmine-lined village with only 900 inhabitants. But this soon changed when Prince Max Egon zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg
Hohenlohe-Langenburg
Hohenlohe-Langenburg was a German county of northeastern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located around Langenburg. Hohenlohe-Neuenstein was partitioned into it, Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen and Hohenlohe-Kirchberg in 1701...
and his heir Alfonso de Hohenlohe
Prince zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg
Prince Alfonso Maximiliano Victorio Eugenio Alexandro María Pablo de la Santísima Trinidad y Todos los Santos zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg was a playboy and businessman known for his promotion of the Spanish resorts of Marbella and the Costa del Sol...
experienced a problem with their Rolls-Royce in the vicinity. This first encounter with Marbella so impressed Alfonso that he decided to buy land commercially, marketing the area as a tourist destination. In 1954, he opened the Marbella Club Hotel
Marbella Club Hotel
The Marbella Club Hotel is a hotel in Marbella, Spain. Guests have included Ava Gardner, Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant and Laurence Olivier.The hotel is located on the Southern Spanish Costa del Sol, on the "Golden Mile" near Old Town Marbella and Puerto Banús....
; his son had recently returned from California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and the hotel was loosely modelled on the motel
Motel
A motor hotel, or motel for short, is a hotel designed for motorists, and usually has a parking area for motor vehicles...
style with lower pitched terracotta roofs among 23,000 trees.
Given Alfonso's maternal membership in Spain's titled aristocracy (his mother, Doña Piedad Iturbe and Scholtz, was the Marquesa
Marquis
Marquis is a French and Scottish title of nobility. The English equivalent is Marquess, while in German, it is Markgraf.It may also refer to:Persons:...
de Belvis de las Navas), and his paternal kinship to the royal courts
Noble court
The court of a monarch, or at some periods an important nobleman, is a term for the extended household and all those who regularly attended on the ruler or central figure...
of Europe, the hotel quickly proved a hit with vacationing members of Europe's ruling elites, and those privileged to socialise with them in casual yet discreet luxury. Don Jaime de Mora y Aragón, a Spanish bon vivant, brother to Fabiola, Queen of the Belgians, Adnan Khashoggi
Adnan Khashoggi
Adnan Khashoggi is a Saudi Arabian arms-dealer and businessman. He is also noted for his engagements with high society in both the Occident and Arabic-speaking worlds, and for his involvement in the Iran–Contra and Lockheed bribery scandals, and numerous other affairs...
and Guenter Rottman, were frequent vacationers.
Typical was a gala held in August 1998 as a fundraiser at the Marbella club for AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
relief NGO. Prince Alfonso presided, supported by the sons of his first marriage to Princess Ira von Fürstenberg
Ira von Fürstenberg
Princess Virginia of Fürstenberg is a European socialite, actress, jewelry designer, and a former public relations manager for the fashion designer Valentino Garavani.-Background:...
, an Agnelli
Agnelli
Agnelli is a surname, and can refer to:*Members of the Agnelli family of Italy, including:**Giovanni Agnelli , Italian manufacturer and founder of Fiat***Edoardo Agnelli , Italian industrialist, son of Giovanni...
heiress who arrived with her own entourage; Princess Marie-Louise of Prussia (great-granddaughter of Kaiser Wilhelm II) who, with her husband Count Rudolf "Rudi" von Schönburg
Schönburg
Schönburg is a municipality in the Burgenlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated 5 km east of Naumburg, on the river Saale. It is part of the Verbandsgemeinde Wethautal....
–Glauchau
Glauchau
Glauchau is a town in Germany, in Saxony, on the right bank of the Mulde, 7 miles north of Zwickau and 17 miles west of Chemnitz by rail. It is part of the Zwickau district....
, would eventually take over the Marbella Club Hotel from Prince Alfonso; and socialite Countess Gunilla von Bismarck.
In 1974, Prince Fahd
Fahd of Saudi Arabia
Fahd bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, was King of Saudi Arabia from 1982 to 2005...
arrived at the city after having broken the bank of the Casino of Montecarlo. Until his death in 2005, he was a frequent and profitable guest at Marbella, where his retinue of over a thousand people spending petro-dollars was welcome, including the then-anonymous Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
.
In the eighties, Marbella continued to be a destination for the jet set
Jet set
"Jet set" is a journalistic term that was used to describe an international social group of wealthy people, organizing and participating all around the world in social activities that are unreachable to ordinary people...
, with the most recognizable face being that of Gunilla von Bismarck. However, problems arose in 1987 when Melodie Nakachian, a daughter of Raymond Nakachian, a local billionaire philanthropist and the Korean singer Kimera
Kimera (singer)
Kimera is South Korean-born popera singer. Her music style was that of pop opera . She created the style of "popera", consisting of a medley of opera arias set to a mid-80's form of disco and High N-R-G beats...
was kidnapped, putting the city in the focus of the media.
In 1991, the builder and president of Atlético Madrid, Jesús Gil y Gil was elected by a wide majority as mayor of Marbella for his own party, the Independent Liberal Group
Independent Liberal Group
The Independent Liberal Group was a far-right-wing Spanish political party. It was founded in 1991. Its founder was the convicted businessman Jesús Gil y Gil, who was mayor of Marbella in the Costa del Sol...
(GIL in Spanish), promising to fight petty crime and the declining prestige associated with the region. Amongst other things, he used, as an international spokesman for the city, actor Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
who later ended this relationship after his image was used for electoral purpose by Gil.
The city also experimented with extensive building activity under the administration of Gil, with critics stating that this construction was often performed without regard for the existing urban plan and thus new plans were stopped by the Andalusian government. Something of a maverick, Gil despised town-hall formalities instead ruling from his office at the Club Financiero. Criticism was levelled at Gil by the major parties of Spain (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is a social-democratic political party in Spain. Its political position is Centre-left. The PSOE is the former ruling party of Spain, until beaten in the elections of November 2011 and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Partido Carlista, founded in...
and People's Party
People's Party (Spain)
The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship...
) but this did not convince enough voters to oust him and Spanish celebrities continued to spend summers there. Gil's GIL extended to other Costa del Sol towns like Estepona
Estepona
Estepona is a town and municipality in the region of the Costa del Sol, southern Spain. It is located in the province of Málaga, part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. Estepona is renowned for its beaches, which stretch along some 21 km of coastline...
and across the Strait of Gibraltar to the Spanish African cities of Ceuta
Ceuta
Ceuta is an autonomous city of Spain and an exclave located on the north coast of North Africa surrounded by Morocco. Separated from the Iberian peninsula by the Strait of Gibraltar, Ceuta lies on the border of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta along with the other Spanish...
and Melilla
Melilla
Melilla is a autonomous city of Spain and an exclave on the north coast of Morocco. Melilla, along with the Spanish exclave Ceuta, is one of the two Spanish territories located in mainland Africa...
.
This period brought an appraisal of the city but also investigations of corruption. Eventually, Jesús Gil was forced to resign in 2002 after being jailed for diverting public funds for Atlético. He was succeeded by Julián Muñoz, a former waiter then well-known for being romantically engaged with singer Isabel Pantoja
Isabel Pantoja
Isabel Pantoja is a popular contemporary Spanish singer. She is of Romani origin, born in the Triana district of Seville, Spain. She has released more than a dozen albums throughout a career spanning many decades, and is known for her distinctive Andalusian style.-Biography:She was born into a...
with more than one hundred trials for corruption following. Muñoz was overthrown by his own party which elected Marisol Yagüe, a former secretary, as the new mayor. Muñoz and Gil took part in a scandalous debate on television where both accused each other of having robbed public funds.
The situation exploded in March 2006, when Yagüe was jailed as the city council was near bankruptcy. According to unsubstantiated testimony, Muñoz and Yagüe were puppets in the hands of Antonio Roca, a councilman who got the job after failing in private business and gathering substantial wealth while working as a public servant. While Yagüe was in jail, the city council was run by Tomás Reñones
Tomás Reñones
Pedro Tomás Reñones Grego , simply Tomás, is a retired Spanish footballer who played as a right defender....
, a former Atlético Madrid football player, who ended up in jail as well. On April 8, 2006, the Spanish government decided to suspend the council
Marbella City Council dissolution
The dissolution of the Marbella City Council on April 7, 2006, was an unprecedented movement of the Spanish Government to put an end to the long-standing corruption in the city, which had taken the council near to its bankruptcy while many mayors and their collaborators had "earned" large amounts...
, the first time such a course of action was taken in Spanish democracy http://www.citymayors.com/politics/marbella_corruption.html.
After a short period of interim government, municipal elections were held in May 2007. The People's Party
People's Party (Spain)
The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship...
(PP) gained a majority with 16 out of the total of 26 councillors. The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is a social-democratic political party in Spain. Its political position is Centre-left. The PSOE is the former ruling party of Spain, until beaten in the elections of November 2011 and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Partido Carlista, founded in...
(PSOE) had 10 councillors, United Left
United Left (Spain)
The United Left is a political coalition that was organized in 1986 bringing together several political organisations opposed to Spain joining NATO. It was formed by a number of groups of leftists, greens, left-wing socialists and republicans, but was dominated by the Communist Party of Spain...
(IU) had 1. . The Mayoress is Maria Angeles Muñoz, leader of the People's Party in Marbella. In the municipal elections of May 2011 the PP won 15 seats, the PSOE 7, IU 2 with three independents elected.
Sights in and around Marbella
- Arabian wall
- BonsaiBonsaiis a Japanese art form using miniature trees grown in containers. Similar practices exist in other cultures, including the Chinese tradition of penjing from which the art originated, and the miniature living landscapes of Vietnamese hòn non bộ...
museum - Museo del Grabado Español Contemporáneo
- Old city centre
- Playa de la Bajadilla (beach)
- Playa de Fontanilla (beach)
- Puerto BanúsPuerto BanúsPuerto José Banús, more commonly known as Puerto Banús is a marina located in the area of Nueva Andalucía, to the southwest of Marbella, Spain on the Costa del Sol. It was built in May 1970 by José Banús, a local property developer, as a luxury marina and shopping complex for the rich and famous...
, a marina built by José Banús where Rolls-Royces and Ferraris meet yachtYachtA yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...
s. - The Golden Mile featuring the Marbella Club HotelMarbella Club HotelThe Marbella Club Hotel is a hotel in Marbella, Spain. Guests have included Ava Gardner, Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant and Laurence Olivier.The hotel is located on the Southern Spanish Costa del Sol, on the "Golden Mile" near Old Town Marbella and Puerto Banús....
and its beach club, as well as the late King Fahad's palace. - Encarnation's Church (Iglesia de la Encarnación). Oldest church in the city situated in the old-town.
Notable residents
- Antonio BanderasAntonio BanderasJosé Antonio Domínguez Banderas , better known as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish film actor, film director, film producer and singer...
has been a regular visitor to Marbella where he has a house in Los Monteros. His and Melanie GriffithMelanie GriffithMelanie Richards Griffith is an American actress. She is an Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner for her performance in the 1988 film Working Girl...
's daughter was born in Marbella in 1999. - In 1981 English actress Joan CollinsJoan CollinsJoan Henrietta Collins, OBE , is an English actress, author, and columnist. Born in Paddington and raised in Maida Vale, Collins grew up during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she made her stage debut in A Doll's House and after attending school, she was classically trained as an actress...
accepted her career-making role in the hit prime time melodrama DynastyDynastyA dynasty is a sequence of rulers considered members of the same family. Historians traditionally consider many sovereign states' history within a framework of successive dynasties, e.g., China, Ancient Egypt and the Persian Empire...
while living in her Marbella vacation home. - Sean ConnerySean ConnerySir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
lived in Marbella, where he was regularly seen playing golf when not filming. He left following disagreements with the local press. - English writer Vincent CroninVincent CroninVincent Archibald Patrick Cronin, FRSL was a British historical, cultural, and biographical writer, best-known for his biographies of Louis XIV, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, Catherine the Great, and Napoleon, as well as for his books on the Renaissance.Cronin was born in Tredegar, Monmouthshire...
has had a home in Marbella for decades. - Arms dealer Monzer al-KassarMonzer al-KassarMonzer al-Kassar , also known as the "Prince of Marbella", is an international arms dealer. He has been connected to numerous crimes, including the Achille Lauro hijacking and the Iran-Contra scandal. On November 20, 2008, he was convicted in U.S. federal court as part of a U.S...
was a longtime resident until his imprisonment, and has been nicknamed "The Prince of Marbella". - Mark Langford, the former, multi-millionaire boss of The Accident GroupThe Accident GroupThe Accident Group was a Manchester based personal injury claims management company that went into administration in May 2003. The firm gained notoriety for informing its 2,400 workers of their redundancy by text message, which, according to BBC reports, led to the firm's offices being emptied of...
who notoriously sacked most of his 2,700 staff by text message, died after being involved in a car accident in Marbella on April 11, 2007 - Actor Dolph LundgrenDolph LundgrenDolph Lundgren is a Swedish actor, director, and martial artist. He belongs to a generation of film actors who epitomise the movie action hero stereotype including Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme.A graduate in chemical...
resides in Marbella and London with his wife and two children. - English songwriter Richard Daniel RomanRichard Daniel RomanRichard Daniel Roman is a British songwriter, composer, singer, record producer, photographer, mystic and poet best known for his work with pop musicians.-Biography:...
- Porn star Linsey Dawn McKenzieLinsey Dawn McKenzieLinsey Dawn McKenzie is an English glamour model, pornographic actress, and minor celebrity.McKenzie made her topless modelling debut in The Sunday Sport tabloid newspaper on her 16th birthday in 1994...
- Actor and comedian Mike ReidMike ReidMichael or Mike Reid may refer to:*Mike Reid , English comedian and actor, best known for his role as Frank Butcher in the BBC soap opera EastEnders*Mike Reid , American golfer...
was living in Marbella at the time of his death on 29 July 2007. He was born in Hackney, London, England, and retired to Marbella a few years before he died.http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article261751.ece - Former dictator of Cuba, Fulgencio BatistaFulgencio BatistaFulgencio Batista y Zaldívar was the United States-aligned Cuban President, dictator and military leader who served as the leader of Cuba from 1933 to 1944 and from 1952 to 1959, before being overthrown as a result of the Cuban Revolution....
, died in Marbella in 1973. - Scottish footballer Andy GrayAndy GrayAndrew Mullen Gray is a Scottish retired footballer who played for several clubs in Scotland and England. He also represented his country...
- James HewittJames HewittJames Hewitt is a former British household cavalry officer in the British Army. He had an affair with Diana, Princess of Wales for five years, receiving extensive media coverage after revealing details of the affair.-Early life:...
- Jörg WontorraJörg WontorraJörg Wontorra is a German sport journalist.- Life :In Germany Wontorra works as sport journalist in German television. Wontorra lives in Marbella, Spain. He has two childs.- External links :* * - References :...
, German sport journalist
Media references
Santiago SeguraSantiago Segura
Santiago Segura Silva is a Spanish film actor, screenwriter, producer and director.Santiago was born in the Carabanchel neighbourhood in Madrid. After studying Arts at the Complutense University of Madrid, he decided to pursue a career as a film-maker and in 1989 he directed the short Relatos de...
's Torrente
Torrente
Torrente may refer to:* Torrent, Valencia, a municipality located within the metropolitan area of the city of the Spanish city Valencia* Torrente , a Parisian haute couture fashion house founded by designer Rosette Torrente-Mett in 1969; current creative director Julien Fournie* Gonzalo Torrente...
comedy film series took its second part Torrente 2: Misión en Marbella
Torrente 2: Misión en Marbella
Torrente, Misión en Marbella is a 2001 Spanish dark comedy. The film is the sequel to Torrente, el brazo tonto de la ley, and, like the first film, it was written and directed by Santiago Segura who takes the leading role of José Luis Torrente.- Plot:...
(2001
2001 in film
The year 2001 in film involved some significant events, including the first of the Harry Potter series and also the first of The Lord of the Rings trilogy...
, the highest grossing Spanish film ever) to Marbella, where the repulsive cop José Luis Torrente meets the kitsch inhabitants of the city in an intrigue of international politics.
Marbella was featured in the popular political thriller, Syriana
Syriana
Syriana is a 2005 geopolitical thriller film written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, and executive produced by George Clooney, who also stars in the film with an ensemble cast. Gaghan's screenplay is loosely adapted from Robert Baer's memoir See No Evil...
. It was used as the location for a private party which an Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
ian Emir
Emir
Emir , meaning "commander", "general", or "prince"; also transliterated as Amir, Aamir or Ameer) is a title of high office, used throughout the Muslim world...
hosts. Marbella was portrayed as an extremely affluent city with most cars at the entrance of the palace being very expensive. In the same year it appeared in Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
's Munich
Munich (film)
Munich is a 2005 historical fiction film about the Israeli government's secret retaliation attacks after the massacre of Israeli athletes by the Black September terrorist group during the 1972 Summer Olympics. The film stars Eric Bana and was produced and directed by Steven Spielberg...
in a very similar context.
In 2006, there was an international advertisement advertising Marbella as a tourist destination. The song on the advert is aptly called Marbella and is performed by singer Cristie
Cristie
Cristina Sánchez Ruiz , better known as Cristie, is a Spanish flamenco singer who became famous with her involvement in the reality TV series Operación Triunfo in the winter of 2002-2003.- Biography :...
.
The Finnish
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
1985 comedy film Uuno Epsanjassa
Uuno Epsanjassa
Uuno Epsanjassa is a Finnish 1985 comedy film directed by Ere Kokkonen. It is the tenth film in the Uuno Turhapuro series. It was seen by more than 600,000 people in the theatres.-Plot:...
is situated in Marbella.
Many other movies and TV programmes such as Nip/Tuck
Nip/Tuck
Nip/Tuck is an American drama series created by Ryan Murphy, which aired on FX in the United States. The series focuses on McNamara/Troy, a plastic surgery practice, and follows its founders, Sean McNamara and Christian Troy...
portray it as a playground for the rich.
ITV aired a TV programme in spring 2007 called Marbella Belles which portrays a series of British women who now live in Marbella with their rich partners.
Cast of Living On The Edge
Living on the Edge (TV series)
Living On The Edge was a British reality television show that first aired on 14 October 2007 on MTV UK. It documented the lives of several teenagers in Alderley Edge in Cheshire, a wealthy village in the North West of England. It is noted for attempting, but often failing, to purvey 'drama all the...
visit on the fourth episode of the first season.
It is also referenced in the stage play "Noises Off
Noises Off
Noises Off is a 1982 play by English playwright Michael Frayn. The idea for it was born in 1970, when Frayn was standing in the wings watching a performance of Chinamen, a farce that he had written for Lynn Redgrave...
" by Michael Frayn. The character Phillip and his wife Belinda have been tax exile
Tax exile
A tax exile is one who chooses to leave a country with a high tax burden and instead to reside in a foreign nation or jurisdiction which takes a lower portion of earnings. Going into tax exile is a means of tax mitigation or avoidance.-Legal status:...
s in Spain. The character Gary thinks he and his guest are alone in the house, when he spots Phillip, and thinks he's a ghost.
Gary: "Hold on a second, you're not from the other world!"
Phillip: "Yes, yes, Marbella!"
Carlos Baute
Carlos Baute
Carlos Roberto Baute Jiménez , best known as Carlos Baute, is a Venezuelan singer and television host...
's song "Colgando en tus Manos" mentions him and his love vacationing in Marbella and Marta Sanchez sings this line in their duet version of the song.
Simon Cowell for series 7 of the X Factor went to Marbella for his Judges House with the groups with Sinnita.
The cast of the ITV2 show The Only Way is Essex
The Only Way Is Essex
The Only Way Is Essex, is a British BAFTA award-winning semi-reality show based in Essex, England. It shows "real people in modified situations, saying unscripted lines but in a structured way."...
visited Marbella in the summer of 2011, and it was mentioned many times in the second series, where they nicknamed the resort "Marbs".
Twin towns – Sister cities
Marbella is twinned with:Baler
Baler, Aurora
Baler is a 4th class municipality in the province of Aurora, Philippines. It is the provincial capital of Aurora. According to the latest census, it has a population of 34,492 people and 5.955 members per household....
, Philippines Cabourg
Cabourg
Cabourg is a commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region of France.Cabourg belongs to the Paris Basin. The commune is located next to the sea and the back country is a plain, favourable to the cereal culture...
, France Doha
Doha
Doha is the capital city of the state of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 998,651 in 2008, and is also one of the municipalities of Qatar...
, Qatar
Jeddah
Jeddah
Jeddah, Jiddah, Jidda, or Jedda is a city located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, the largest sea port on the Red Sea, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh. The...
, Saudi Arabia. Miami Beach
Miami Beach, Florida
Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter which separates the Beach from Miami city proper...
, United States Nabeul
Nabeul
Nabeul is a coastal town in northeastern Tunisia, on the south coast near to the Cap Bon peninsula. It is located at around and is the capital of the Nabeul Governorate...
, Tunisia
Nevers
Nevers
Nevers is a commune in – and the administrative capital of – the Nièvre department in the Bourgogne region in central France...
, France Punta del Este
Punta del Este
Punta del Este is a resort town on the Atlantic Coast in the Maldonado Department of southeastern Uruguay. It is located on the intersection of Route 10 with Route 39, directly southeast of the department capital Maldonado and about east of Montevideo...
, Uruguay
External links
- Marbella Travel Information
- Marbella TV
- Ayuntamiento de Marbella — official Marbella city hall site, partly in English, mostly in Spanish
- Marbella Weather — Climate and brief history
- News, market trends, stats, politics, events from Marbella, Spain (in English)