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The demolition of the Ciutadella fortress opened the possibility that the Barcelona City Council could give the space new spaces to be used by a citizenry that until then had lived in corsetry.
Part of that land was dedicated to building the current Ciutadella park. In another free space in the area, the municipal authorities thought about dedicating it to a new market, since, with the growth that the city was experiencing, the Boqueria, at that time the central market, was becoming congested.
For this reason, it was decided to enable in principle only one retail market, which would bear the name "Mercado de la Ribera", in memory of the old neighborhood that disappeared due to the construction of the Ciutadella precinct and the birth of the Barceloneta neighborhood. .
Its construction was carried out under the project of the architect Josep Fontseré i Mestre, who in 1859 had participated in the administrative competition for the Eixample projects in Barcelona in which he obtained a third second place.
In 1870 he won the competition for the urbanization of the Ciutadella park and was subsequently hired in 1873 by the City Council to build the Ribera Market. Built between 1874-1876, it was the first large iron architecture building designed in Barcelona.
Despite being built with spectacular dimensions and modern services for the time, in addition to being a point of decongestion in the neighborhood, it never gained the acceptance that was initially thought.
This lack of clientele from the neighborhood's residents and the growth of Barcelona made the municipal authorities think about converting it into a central fruit and vegetable market, which would lighten the Boqueria.
The possibility of a new market was even raised, an option that was discarded when it was considered that this could be the ideal opportunity to provide El Born with the hierarchy that, as a retail market, it had not achieved.
In 1921, "el Borne" was born, which is how the Ribera market was known, with the beginning of a new stage as a fruit and vegetable wholesale market.
It was ideally located, close to the port and the stations of France and the North, and easy access for road traffic and loading and unloading.
The retail stalls that until then had occupied the Ribera Market were relocated to Santa Caterina and the wholesale sale of fish was relocated to the so-called Gallery of Machines, a building built on Wellington Street for the Universal Exhibition of 1888.
In 1971, El Borne and the Fish Market became part (along with the Matadero) of the Supply Center for merchants in Barcelona, the beltway and nearby towns, known as "Mercabarna".
With the move to the current Mercabarna and after many years of controversy, the conclusion was reached to enable a giant library, the Provincial Library of Barcelona, which would house a monumental collection of books, but, in February 2002, while some works, archaeological remains from the medieval period appeared and were in an excellent state of conservation, which led to the project being changed to adapt it to its current museum status.
In the old Born building you can see the archaeological remains, two permanent exhibition rooms, a specialized bookstore and a bar-restaurant, El 300 del Born, where you can rest and have a snack.
Currently, it is in a period of transformation with the creation of three new spaces, which will be completed in 2026 and a budget of 1.3 million euros. Among other things, the subsoil site will be highlighted more to make it more visible to the public.
