A ROW has erupted in Benalmadena over plans to demolish the town’s historic bullring to make way for a car park for a €15 million Chinese-themed cultural park.
The project – unveiled at the Madrid International Tourism Fair (FITUR) in January – will see a 24,000 sqm ‘Friendship Park’ built in Benalmádena Pueblo, backed by the Spanish-Chinese Promotion and Exchange Association.
Plans include a Zen monastery, Buddha temple, pagoda, museum-classrooms, a Matsú temple, landscaped gardens, and what is billed as Europe’s first eco-friendly ceremonial Chinese cemetery, with sealed urns and caskets but no burials or cremations.
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The €15 million complex will also feature a retreat hostel, organic restaurant, porticoed spaces, and a monument to Spanish-Chinese friendship, alongside a semi-underground car park for 236 vehicles and four buses.
Mayor Juan Antonio Lara said the park would ‘transport us to the most traditional China’ and attract high-spending visitors from Asia as well as locals.
But right-wing party VOX has accused the ruling Partido Popular (PP) of using ‘flimsy’ evidence to justify bulldozing the Plaza de Toros, which was built in 1968 and is one of the oldest buildings in Benalmádena Pueblo.
VOX spokesman Joaquín Amann claimed the decision was based on a provincial report that relied only on a visual inspection and did not include cost estimates for repair or rebuilding.
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He said an independent survey commissioned by VOX found no serious structural defects and blamed 15 years of municipal neglect for problems such as broken toilets, missing fire extinguishers and poor accessibility. The bullring has been closed since 2010.
“Demolishing Spanish culture to park cars in front of a Chinese temple is their priority,” Amann said, adding that his party’s proposal to rehabilitate the bullring with regional or EU funds was voted down by PSOE and IU councillors, with the PP abstaining.
China has risen to become Spain’s top Asian trading partner and a key supplier, however it is still some way from being its largest overall partner, with the EU still dominating.
But Chinese influence is growing, mainly via FDI in the fields of electric vehicles and batteries, tourism (Spain received 647,801 Chinese visitors in 2024), and agricultural market access.
The council has not confirmed when demolition might begin.
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What an extraordinary proposal. The country is about to be overwhelmed with Chinese ev’s and here is a piece of Spanish cultural heritage we are going to demolish as a way to say “thank you China”! China has no friendly gestures when it comes to business, I assure you.