English and the World · Spain · 18 · Málaga · A1–C2 · Free
A tropical garden created around 1855 by the daughter of Málaga’s greatest industrialist, a little temple that held the laws of Roman Málaga, and the families and the city that saved it. Choose your level.
La Concepción, north of Málaga
La Concepción is a big garden in the north of Málaga. There are a lot of trees and plants from Europe, America, Asia, Africa and Oceania. There are many palm trees, and there are some waterfalls and small lakes.
In the middle of the garden there is a little temple, like a Greek temple. At the top there is a viewpoint, with a view of the city, the castle and the sea.
There isn’t much noise in the garden: it’s very quiet. There aren’t any cars, only birds and water.
From 1855 to today
Amalia Heredia and her husband, Jorge Loring, made the garden in about 1855. They were very rich. They liked plants, books and old Roman things, and they had a lot of Roman statues and stones in their little temple.
Later, the family lost their money. In 1911, a family from Bilbao bought the garden and planted many more trees.
In 1990, the city of Málaga bought it, and in 1994 it opened to everyone. Today it is a botanical garden, and schools and families visit it.
Language: there is / there are + some, any, a lot of, many, much
| What | How | Example |
|---|---|---|
| A positive sentence, plural | some / a lot of / many + plural | There are some waterfalls. There are a lot of trees. |
| Negatives and questions, plural | any + plural | There aren’t any cars. Are there any lakes? |
| Things we can’t count (noise, water) | much (in negatives and questions), a lot of | There isn’t much noise. There’s a lot of water. |
| How many? / How much? | How many + plural, How much + uncountable | How many palm trees are there? |
Read the texts first. Press “Check my answers” at the end.
Choose the best answer.
1. Where are the plants from?
2. What is in the middle of the garden?
3. Who made the garden?
4. When did the garden open to everyone?
Write some or any.
5. There are waterfalls in the garden.
6. There aren’t cars.
7. Are there lakes?
8. They had Roman statues in the temple.
Write many or much.
9. There are palm trees.
10. There isn’t noise in the garden.
11. How plants are there?
12. How water is there in the lake?
Go there!
Where: Camino del Jardín Botánico 3, about 5 km north of the centre. Bus 2 goes near it. Check the opening times on the garden’s website.
Your task: describe a park or garden you know, in five sentences: There are a lot of … . There aren’t any … . There isn’t much … .
From iron to orchids
In lesson 16, in the cemetery of San Miguel, we met the Heredia family, whose ironworks made them one of the richest families in Spain. This is the story of the garden that one of them created, and of the people who saved it.
Read the two texts, then do the practice.
From about 1855 to 1911
La Concepción was created in about 1855 by Jorge Loring, who was a businessman and politician, and his wife Amalia Heredia, whose father, Manuel Agustín Heredia, had built Málaga’s great ironworks. It is said that they wanted to recreate the parks and villas that they had seen in Europe, and a French gardener, Jacinto Chamoussent, planted the tropical garden which still forms the heart of the estate.
The garden soon became famous, but less for its plants than for its museum. In a small Doric temple, which they called the Museo Loringiano, the Lorings displayed the Roman finds that they had collected. The greatest of them was the Lex Flavia Malacitana, the bronze tablets on which the laws of Roman Málaga were written in about AD 80. Today they are in the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid, where visitors can still read them.
From 1911 to today
After the deaths of Amalia and Jorge, the family’s fortune declined, and in 1911 the estate was bought by Rafael Echevarría and Amalia Echevarrieta, a couple from Bilbao who loved the garden as much as its founders had. They added the Palm Tree Avenue, the Nymph’s Stream and a viewpoint, from which you can see the cathedral, Gibralfaro and the sea. In 1943 the garden was officially declared a garden of historical and artistic importance.
In 1990 the city of Málaga bought the estate, which by then covered almost 50 hectares, and on 21 June 1994 the garden opened to the public. Today it is both a historic garden and a botanical garden, whose collections are used for science and education.
Language: relative clauses
| For… | Pronoun | Example |
|---|---|---|
| People | who (or that in defining clauses) | A couple who loved the garden. |
| Things | which (or that in defining clauses) | The finds that they had collected. |
| Possession | whose | Amalia, whose father built the ironworks. |
| Places | where (= in which) | The museum where visitors can read them. |
| With a preposition (formal) | preposition + which / whom | A viewpoint from which you can see the sea. |
⚠️ Non-defining clauses (extra information, between commas) never use that: the Museo Loringiano, which was a temple, not ✗ , that was a temple.
Fact or not sure?
| Statement | Status | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The garden was created in about 1855 | Fact | All the sources agree. |
| The Lorings copied gardens they saw on their honeymoon | Not sure | A nice story from one source: “it is said”. |
| The Lex Flavia is now in Madrid | Fact | In the National Archaeological Museum. |
| It has the largest collection of subtropical plants in Europe | Not sure | A guidebook claim, hard to prove. |
Read both texts first. Press “Check my answers” at the end. You can try again as many times as you like.
Choose the best answer.
1. Who was Amalia Heredia’s father?
2. What made the garden famous at first?
3. What is the Lex Flavia Malacitana?
4. What did the Echevarría family add?
5. What happened in 1943?
6. What is the garden used for today?
Write who, which, whose or where.
7. Amalia, father built the ironworks, created the garden with her husband.
8. Chamoussent was the gardener planted the tropical garden.
9. The Museo Loringiano, looks like a Greek temple, held the Roman finds.
10. Madrid is the city the Lex Flavia is kept today.
11. Rafael and Amalia Echevarría, came from Bilbao, bought the estate in 1911.
12. There is a viewpoint from you can see the sea.
Choose the best answer.
13. Which sentence is correct?
14. In which sentence can you leave out the relative pronoun?
15. Which sentence is correct?
16. Which is the most formal?
Where do these words come from?
17. Paradise comes from Old Persian pairidaēza. What did it mean?
18. Palm, the tree, comes from Latin palma. What else did palma mean?
19. Botany comes from Greek botanē. What did it mean?
A morning in the garden
Where: Camino del Jardín Botánico 3, about 5 km north of the centre; bus 2 goes nearby. Check opening times and guided visits on the garden’s website.
Find: the Museo Loringiano, the Palm Tree Avenue, the Nymph’s Stream and the viewpoint with its dome. Your task: write a short guide to the garden (100–120 words) using at least six relative clauses, with who, which, whose and where.
From about 1855 to 1911
La Concepción is a garden of contrasts. Although it is now among Málaga’s quietest places, it was born of the noisiest fortune in the city: Amalia Heredia was the daughter of Manuel Agustín Heredia, whose ironworks had made Málaga one of the industrial capitals of Spain, whereas her husband, Jorge Loring, was a businessman and politician involved in the age of railways. Around 1855 the couple turned an estate north of the city into a romantic garden, planted by the French gardener Jacinto Chamoussent; it is said that they wanted to recreate the villas and parks they had admired in Europe.
Despite the beauty of its planting, the estate first became famous for something else: the Museo Loringiano, a small Doric temple in which the Lorings displayed one of the finest private collections of antiquities in Spain. Its jewel was the Lex Flavia Malacitana, the bronze tablets bearing the charter under which Roman Málaga was governed in about AD 80. While the collection made the Lorings’ name across Europe, it was to outlive their fortune.
From 1911 to today
After the deaths of Jorge and Amalia, the family’s wealth declined, and in 1911 the estate was sold to Rafael Echevarría and Amalia Echevarrieta, a couple from Bilbao. Far from simply preserving what they had bought, they enlarged it, adding the Palm Tree Avenue, the Nymph’s Stream and a viewpoint crowned with a regionalist dome. The garden was declared of historical and artistic importance in 1943, and remained in the family until the 1960s.
In 1990 the city bought the estate, nearly 50 hectares, for 600 million pesetas, and on 21 June 1994 opened it to the public, with a double mission: to conserve the historic garden and to develop a botanical garden for science and education. The antiquities, however, had long since gone: the Lex Flavia is in the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid, albeit remembered in Málaga, where its text is engraved on the glass of the Roman theatre’s visitor centre. Much as some in Málaga would like it back, others argue that a national museum is the right home for a national treasure.
Language: concession and contrast
| What we do | How | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Concede, with a clause | although / though / even though + clause | Although it is quiet now, it was born of a noisy fortune. |
| Concede, with a noun or -ing | despite / in spite of + noun / -ing | Despite the beauty of its planting… |
| Contrast two facts | whereas / while + clause | Amalia came from industry, whereas Jorge was a politician. |
| Contrast across sentences | however, nevertheless, even so | The antiquities, however, had gone. |
| Concede briefly (formal) | albeit + adjective / phrase | In Madrid, albeit remembered in Málaga. |
| Concede strongly | much as + clause | Much as some would like it back, … |
⚠️ despite never takes of and never takes a clause: despite the rain or despite the fact that it rained, not ✗ despite of the rain or ✗ despite it rained.
Evidence and debate
| Claim | What we can say |
|---|---|
| The couple copied gardens seen on their honeymoon | A charming story from one source: report it with “it is said”. |
| The collection was famous across Europe | The garden’s own history says so; plausible, given the Lex Flavia. |
| It holds the largest subtropical collection in Europe | A guidebook claim; hard to measure, so treat with caution. |
Debate: Should the Lex Flavia Malacitana return to Málaga, or does it belong in the national museum in Madrid? Think of other cases: the Parthenon sculptures in London, the Lady of Elche, which spent decades in Paris.
Read both texts first. Press “Check my answers” at the end.
Choose the best answer.
1. What is the “contrast” in “a garden of contrasts”?
2. “It was to outlive their fortune.” What does this mean?
3. “Far from simply preserving what they had bought…” What does the writer emphasise?
4. What was the city’s “double mission”?
5. How does the writer present the debate about the Lex Flavia?
6. Why does the writer mention the theatre’s visitor centre?
Write the missing word or words.
7. the garden is quiet now, it was born of a noisy fortune.
8. the beauty of its planting, it first became famous for its museum.
9. Amalia came from a family of industrialists, Jorge was a politician.
10. The garden was saved. The antiquities, , had gone.
11. The Lex Flavia is in Madrid, remembered in Málaga.
12. Despite the family lost its money, the garden survived.
Choose the best answer.
13. Which sentence is correct?
14. Which sentence is correct?
15. “Much as I admire the museum in Madrid, I think the tablets belong in Málaga.” What does the speaker do?
16. Which uses “while” for contrast, not time?
Where do these words come from?
17. A nymph comes from Greek nymphē. What did it mean?
18. Mosaic is linked to Greek mousa. Who were the Mousai?
19. Antique and antiquity come from Latin antiquus. What did it mean?
A garden and a debate
Visit: Camino del Jardín Botánico 3, 5 km north of the centre (bus 2). Find the Museo Loringiano, the Palm Tree Avenue, the Nymph’s Stream and the viewpoint. Then, back in the city, read the Lex Flavia on the glass of the Roman theatre’s visitor centre, and visit the Museo de Málaga in the old Customs House, which holds other pieces from the Loring collection.
Write (220–260 words): an opinion essay. Should the Lex Flavia Malacitana return to Málaga? Give both sides fairly before stating your view, using at least five structures of concession and contrast.