The Born market...always under construction

Contrary to what many people think, the Born market has not always been under construction!
Actually the building was completed in 1876 and it is, along with the San Antonio market, the main example of iron architecture in Barcelona. This was a popular architectural and construction trend of the second half of the nineteenth century, and arose thanks to the availability of new materials as an effect of the Industrial Revolution.

After the demolition of the citadel and walls of the city, Barcelona needed a market for the supply of fresh produce, mainly fruits and vegetables. The Born market was a very modern building: quite large, under cover and ventilated. This market was in use for a century, until Mercabarna opened in 1971. The location of the Born was obsolete and there was a need of a new market, more powerful and far from the city center.

And so the emblematic building of Born was left abandoned for 30 years, while someone figured out what to do with it. Finally it was decided that it should serve as the main building of the Provincial Library in Barcelona, ​​but the discovery of some remains of the medieval and modern city made the works stop. If everything goes as expected, it seems that in 2012 a cultural center will open there, and it will include the archeological site and a display of the War of Succession and the subsequent loss of freedoms of Catalonia.


That would be great, but it is a promise that has been progressively delayed since 2005, so I have some doubts about it. I start to think that those works will be forever!