Nerja town hall recovers ownership of chapel located near to famous cave

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The Bishopric of Malaga has corrected the registration of the San Isidro chapel in Maro carried out in 2008 following a complaint from the Entre Cañas association in 2024

Eugenio Cabezas

Friday, 24 April 2026, 14:27

Nerja town hall on the eastern Costa del Sol has regained ownership of the San Isidro chapel, located next to the Cueva de Nerja, after the Bishopric of Malaga proceeded to rectify the authorisation made "in error" in 2008 and signed the deed of cancellation of this inscription before a notary.

This was announced by the mayor of Nerja, José Alberto Armijo, who explained in a statement that, once the authorised copy of the deed is available, the town hall will proceed to complete the corresponding registry procedures to definitively formalise public ownership of the property.

The mayor explained that this allows the town hall "to regularise definitively the ownership of our San Isidro chapel, guaranteeing its public nature", in reference to a process that has lasted for the last two years and that has had its origin in the public complaint made in August 2024 by the Nerja association Entre Cañas.

It was this group that pointed out that the Bishopric of Malaga had registered the chapel in its name in the property register, a situation that generated controversy as it was built on public land and financed at the time with municipal funds and those of the Patronato de la Cueva de Nerja, according to the association.

As a result of this complaint, the town hall began a process of investigation and documentation gathering to clarify the ownership of the property. As explained by the town hall, evidence was provided to prove that the chapel is located on municipal land, which has been decisive in reversing the situation.

Meeting with the bishop

The mayor, together with the municipal lawyer, has held several meetings with the legal counsel of the Bishopric of Malaga, including a recent one with the bishop, José Antonio Satué, with the aim of reaching an agreed solution that would allow for the correction of the registry entry made in 2008.

Armijo thanked the Bishopric of Malaga for its collaboration in the resolution of the conflict, as well as the work of the association Entre Cañas for its involvement in the defence of the local historical heritage, highlighting the role played by this group in the activation of the administrative process.

The case of the San Isidro chapel is part of the wider debate on the registrations carried out by the Church in Spain for decades, an issue that has generated controversy in many municipalities over the registration of property which, in some cases, was considered public or communal ownership. Francisco Capilla, who has a PhD in History, has documented the history of the Nerja in a research article on his blog. 

In August 2024, the Entre Cañas group publicly called on the town hall to investigate the situation of the hermitage and, if there was no formal cession, to initiate procedures to revert its registration. At that time, the town hall indicated that it was seeking information from the Land registry to clarify the ownership of the property.

With the signing of the deed of cancellation of the registration, the process now enters its final phase, pending only its definitive registration.