Zaragoza Central Market opened its doors this month after 2 years of refurbishment
New stalls, modern equipment, tapas bares, and a cultural and social agenda are the features of this historic place
Zaragoza Central Market has reopened to the public this month and looks amazing. I´m so happy my city has this wonderful place in good shape again. The historic building looks radiant after the refurbishment carried through inside and outside.
It is a fantastic place to go shopping as you get fresh and local products, mainly in season, and, above all, what I appreciate the most, is the advice you get from the traders: they know their product and how to make the most of it so they always give good tips, recipes, etc.
What you can find there now is:
- 78 food stalls where you can buy fresh products, from fruit and vegetables to butchers, fishmongers, cured meats, cheese, bakeries, nuts and spices, florists, etc.
- Tapas Bares where you can enjoy some tapas
- Cultural activities, live music at the weekends…
A historic building which has survived many threats
The building of the Central Market (Mercado Central o Mercado de Lanuza) was designed by the architect Félix Navarro Pérez (who was born in my home town, Tarazona) in 1895. The council wanted to have a covered market in the same square where the open market was operating since 1210! Like our loved market in Cambridge, that has been running in that square since Saxon times!
The building was finished in 1903 and since then, except for these last two years, has been the landmark for buying fresh and local products. Its design is remarkable as Navarro Pérez combined the neoclassic style, typical of that time due to the influence of the French architecture, with regional and local contributions like the bricks, popular in Aragón because of the Moorish influence.
The building has survived many years and many threats, from the Spanish Civil War to “the pick-axe” in the ’70s, when the urbanistic politic lay in demolishing “old” buildings to build “new” ones. It is remarkable that a neighbor and social movement at the end of the ’70s in Zaragoza won that fight. Thank them, we still can enjoy this astonishing building and have a place where shopping and socialize, and many families can keep their jobs.
The Central Market is a National Historic Building since 1978 and a Building of Cultural Interest since 1982.
[Photos by Javier Vázquez]