Mercat de la Boqueria: Barcelona's Belly
Why is it significant?
Stand under the iron arch with its coloured glass and breathe in. Ham, oranges, fresh fish on ice, coffee, cut flowers from the stalls on La Rambla behind you. Ahead, a cathedral of iron pillars, piled with fruit in perfect pyramids. This is the Boqueria, Barcelona's belly.
Key Facts
| Place | Mercat de la Boqueria: Barcelona's Belly |
|---|---|
| Address | La Rambla 91, 08001 Barcelona, Spain |
| Geo Coordinates | 41.38170, 2.17160 |
| Part of Walk | La Rambla and El Raval: Barcelona's River of Sand, Opera Bombs and Gaudí's Last Days |
| Generated | Generated |
Stand under the iron arch with its coloured glass and breathe in. Ham, oranges, fresh fish on ice, coffee, cut flowers from the stalls on La Rambla behind you. Ahead, a cathedral of iron pillars, piled with fruit in perfect pyramids. This is the Boqueria, Barcelona's belly.
Its official name is the Mercat de Sant Josep, and that name tells you what stood here before: the convent of Sant Josep, home of Carmelite friars. In 1835, during a wave of anti-clerical riots, convents across Barcelona were burned, and several of them stood right on La Rambla. The city used the empty land, and in 1840 work began on a proper market hall around a square of arcades. The great iron roof that you see now was added later, in 1914.
But people were selling food on this spot long before any roof. In the Middle Ages, farmers from the countryside set up their stalls outside the city gate here, the Porta de la Boqueria, most likely, it is said, to avoid the duties charged inside the walls. The gate disappeared, but the name and the trade never left. Some say boqueria comes from boc, an old Catalan word for goat, because goat meat was sold here.
Walk in past the photogenic fruit juices at the front, and the real market begins: the fishmongers shouting, bacallà soaking in tubs, the offal stalls that tourists hurry past and locals queue at, tiny counter bars where market workers eat breakfast at seven in the morning, often a plate of chickpeas with blood sausage and a glass of wine. That is the Boqueria's secret: it is still a working market, not a museum of food.
Look up La Rambla, too. The elegant palace just up the street, on this same side, is the Palau de la Virreina, built in the 1770s by a man who had been viceroy of Peru, and named after the young widow who lived in it after him. Now walk a few steps further down the promenade. Stop when you find yourself standing on a giant circle of coloured tiles in the pavement.