The Mayor of Málaga boldly told the media: “Find another project for less than €7m investment and less than €2m annual maintenance that is so wonderful and impressive as the Pompidou,” ahead of election day. While Spain’s governing People’s Party (PP) received a drubbing at the polls in the regional and local elections on Sunday, in Málaga the PP hung on to power, albeit losing its majority in the city. So Francisco de la Torre, the mayor who brought a Pompidou pop-up and a branch of the State Russian Museum to the port city in the south of Spain, remains in office to fight another day. Did the prestige of the Pompidou swing the election? Crucially, his campaign focused on the city’s transformation into a major cultural destination since he took office in 2000.