Mercat del Born
The Mercat del Born was built according to the plans of the engineer Josep Mª Cornet i Mas, with the building work overseen by Josep Fonteré from 1873 to 1876.
The wrought iron Mercat del Born was the city’s principal wholesale market until the mid-1970s when it was abandoned. Recent excavation work has revealed entire streets and homes dating back to the 18th century.
These ruins have perhaps sealed the edifice’s fate as a new museum and interpretative centre where these ruins can be viewed via glass flooring and walkway but as part of the redevelopment there are plans to have artist studio space available also.
It’s scheduled to reopen sometime in late 2009 but thats what they said in 2005 so we’ll just have to wait and see. If it does reopen it will be wonderful to get to the end of Passeif del Born and continue right throught the market building onto passeig mercantil and Parc Ciutadella on the other side.
There are several good cafés and restaurants along the Plaça Comercial just in front of the market building, our favorite is Rosal, which you can read about here in the section on bars.