History of Mount San Cristobal

Known among the people of Malaga as the Monte de las Tres Letras

The historic centre of Malaga is flanked by hills in its north-east part.

It seems that this land wants to naturally protect the place where Ferdinand the Catholic decided to set up his camp during the assault that ultimately became a siege of Muslim Malaga.

It is precisely on the hill that is located next to the one that supports the Gibralfaro Castle, by the way, that this castle was the residence of this king several years after the reconquest. Well, that hill or mount, was called San Cristóbal, by the Catholic Monarchs themselves, in honor of the saint of the walkers, ordering the construction of a hermitage under the patronage of Jesus Crucified, which unfortunately with the passage of time came to deteriorate until it almost disappeared. Fortunately, in 1858 it was rebuilt. The place we refer to is where the letters are located that made the people of Malaga begin to call this mount as the Three Letters. During the civil war, in August 1939, Francisco Trujillo, leader of a group of young people from the Victoria neighbourhood, also known as the Chupitiras, belonging to the Catholic Action Youth movement, decided to spend three afternoons painting the initials of their movement with whitewash: JAC. Later, this young man would lose his life in the sad and useless Spanish civil war.

In memory of his son, Trujillo's father, every time the inclement weather blurred these letters, he would repaint them.

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