Mercat Central

Ever since the initial expansion of the city, the area where the Mercat Central is currently situated was used as the regular location for a travelling street market. In 1839, the Mercado Nuevo was opened there, which was an outdoor market and the predecessor of the current Mercat Central. Towards the end of the 19th century, this market was clearly too small for the city of Valencia.
At the request of the Municipal Council, the original project was modied by the architects Alejandro Soler March and Francisco Guardia Vial and the market was built in accordance with the project dated November 1914. The architects Enrique Viedma and Ángel Romaní completed its construction in 1928. King Alfonso XIII played a leading role in the ceremony which marked the start of the demolition work. On 24th October 1910, he struck the wall of number 24 Plaza del Mercado several times with a silver pick. Finally, on 23rd January 1928, the current building of the Mercat Central de Valencia was opened. There is no doubt that the Mercat Central is a spectacular piece of architecture and one of the most attractive and visited buildings in Valencia. Its architecture matches the aesthetics of the square and blends perfectly with two other important monuments: La Lonja de la Seda (the silk exchange) and the Church of Los Santos Juanes. The Mercat Central is undoubtedly the most representative building of early 20th century Valencia, a city which was advancing towards technological and commercial progress and felt proud of the
agricultural potential of its farmland. This commitment to progress and farming production can be seen in the modernist structure of the market and the allegorical decoration of its interior.
The iron, glass and ceramic domes (the central one is 30 metres high) and the two weather vanes on top of them (in the shape of a parrot and a sh) blend into a typically Valencian skyline of towers and bell towers.