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The construction of the Mercat de Sant Antoni, between 1872 and 1882, once the walls were demolished and Barcelona began to be urbanized, was due to the fact that the city council found that the residents of the area near the old Bastion of San Antonio had difficulties finding products fresh due to lack of grocery stores.
For this reason, he hired Antoni Rovira i Trias to carry out the project for the first market in Eixample, in the block that the Cerdà Plan had created between Conde de Urgel, Tamarit, Conde de Borrell and Manso streets.
Antoni Rovira i Trias was the winning architect, in 1859, of the competition organized by the city council to design the project for the Eixample urbanization in Barcelona.
Despite his victory, his project was never carried out since, once all the options presented had been studied, the Spanish Government decided to carry out Ildefons Cerdà i Suñer.
Built with a metal structure, the Mercat de Sant Antoni was designed in such a way that the entire roof was made of ceramic so that in the summer the sun would refract and in the winter it would conserve heat.
Furthermore, this type of construction had the advantage of cleanliness, since rainwater made the dust that accumulated on the roof slide off.
Its inauguration took place at 5 pm on Sunday, September 24, 1882, giving a rhythm of modernity within the neighborhood. The next day, La Vanguardia, on page 5, commented on its inauguration in which it said:
Yesterday afternoon, a large crowd filled the avenues and plaza of San Antonio, attracted by the official inauguration of the new market plaza of San Antonio.
The crowd was so great that the municipal horse guard guarding the four entrances to the square had to make great efforts to contain the crowd.
At half past five the chords of the municipal band indicated the arrival of the corporations invited to the event. The guests were so numerous that it was very difficult to hear the speeches that were made.
The delegate of the Hon. Ilmo. Mr. Bishop blessed the new plaza; and the Hon. The Mayor gave a short but eloquent speech, congratulating himself on the inauguration of this square, the need for which was felt by all, that it was due to the Catalan initiative, and that all its materials were Catalan, as well as the director, builder, etc. , etc.
Afterwards, the commissions toured the plaza's premises and all of them deserved praise, both for their taste and for their good construction.
The crowd left the building at half past six in the afternoon. The Town Hall band enlivened the event, performing the most selected pieces from their repertoire.
The influx of people led to the market expanding not only to the sale of food products, but also to clothing and household items. Stalls were installed outside the market where a series of awnings were adopted for the comfort of vendors and customers in inclement weather.
One of the actions of the city council at the time was the publication every week of the stores that did not comply with current regulations. They were published in La Vanguardia until it fell into disuse because the merchants who appeared on the list saw their business in danger.
José María de Porcioles Colomer, mayor of Barcelona from 1957 to 1973, was responsible for a radical change in the roof of the market, eliminating the tiles, except for those in the dome, and replacing it with uralite plates. Over time, it has been shown that it was a product harmful to health.
His detractors, who are many, apart from accusing him of being the person who authorized the destruction of many modernist buildings in the midst of urban speculation and of having caused urban problems, accused him of having taken advantage of said tiles to take them to Andorra, where the mayor He built a private residence.
His admirers praise his ability to make Francoism and Catalanism compatible to offer a softer image of the Franco regime with the purpose of achieving greater and better investments for Barcelona.
In 2008 the decision was made to modernize the Sant Antoni market as had been done with the Clot, Concepción and Santa Catalina markets.
In October 2009, architects Ravetllat, Ribes and Schmid began remodeling the market. During the works, some tents were installed on the Ronda de San Antonio, suppressing road traffic in the area.
Another work that was carried out at that time was the construction of a cover on Urgel Street to install Sunday stops in the area.
The work was initially supposed to be finished in 2014, but the appearance of archaeological remains, as happened in the Santa Catalina Market, delayed the end of the works.
The origin of the used book market and other items, such as collections of stickers and other collections that began to be held on Sundays, has had several versions.
The most credible is that it was a fair that began to be held in 1920 outdoors on Avenida del Marqués del Duero.
In 1931, the second-hand book market, to bring together some 300 paradistas, founded its first group. In 1934, he created the association's newsletter, which asked the City Council to move its stops under the marquee that surrounded the Mercat de Sant Antoni, in order to avoid inclement weather, especially in the winter season.
The agreement with the City Council did not come until 1936. On the occasion of the remodeling of the market, the council made a cover on Urgel Street to install stalls for vendors on Sunday mornings to protect them and the public from the rain.
