Last week, the cranes finished demolishing the iron cover of the old Abaceria market. The machines unceremoniously dismantled the structure and stacked it in large containers. Yesterday, some pillars still remained intact on the site. All of this is part of the construction process of the new Travessera de Gràcia market, whose works will continue over the next two years. However, with the destruction of the iron structure, the legacy of the architect Joan Torras Guardiola, known as the Catalan Eiffel for his innovation in metal structures of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and which left his mark on some, came to an end. emblematic buildings of the city such as the Clot market, the dome of the Sant Andreu del Palomar church or the scaffolding to build the 1888 Columbus monument.
The architect's great-granddaughter, Assumpta Feliu i Torras, together with Jordi Rogent, head of Heritage at Barcelona City Council for twenty years, presented a petition to the City Council a few weeks ago to stop the dismantling of the structure, warning that it was classified with the level of protection C (assets with elements of interest) – included in the Special Protection Plan for the Historical-Artistic Heritage of Vila de Gràcia – and a very serious infraction was being incurred. That request remained unanswered, and, three weeks later, the dismantling of the structure has continued. Now, the descendant of Torras Guardiola is finalizing the presentation of a complaint against the municipal officials for a crime against heritage, considering that the structure could not be destroyed.
The City Council agreed to preserve a representative part of the old structure to “restore it in another public space as a memory of the old market” and make an exact replica because the old one cannot withstand the weight of the new installation. They also emphasize that the project had the approval of the Heritage and Urban Planning departments, without anyone presenting allegations.
However, in the opinion of the architect's great-granddaughter, the promise of installing the structure in another part of the city after the destruction of a large part of it is impossible. “The work to demolish the metal structure continues without respite, giving rise to sadly irreparable and irreversible situations,” Rogent denounces in a new letter presented to the City Council in which he warns of the damage caused and before filing a criminal complaint. "We have observed how a machine proceeded to seize the pieces of the structure and, then violently throw them into a metal container, proceed to cut them indiscriminately and then crush them mercilessly, destroying and disintegrating the protected metal structure and thus reducing 131 years of history in simple junk,” he laments.
The complainants allude to images recorded by the residents of Gràcia in which machines appear destroying the structure. “The shocking images are likely to hurt the sensitivity of any person who is in favor of defending the protection and conservation of the cultural, historical and artistic heritage of the city of Barcelona and its elements of interest,” he concludes.
