Excavation work has begun to catalog the remains of an old textile factory under the Abaceria market, in Gràcia. Barcelona City Council was already aware that in the basement of the market, which is being comprehensively rebuilt, there are a set of structures related to the old Puigmartí cotton factory, from the 19th century, and also agricultural ditches from previous stages.
The archeology work will last about six weeks and will not alter the construction schedule of the new market on Travessera de Gràcia
Before the start of the works, an archaeological study was carried out to detect possible heritage remains on this site and the results were positive: a set of structures related to the old Puigmartí cotton factory, better known as Vapor Nou, which was built in this location from 1839 and which was destroyed by a fire in 1876. A set of vineyard ditches from an earlier stage were also documented (they could belong to the 17th-18th centuries).
The City Council was already aware, therefore, of the existence of these remains in the subsoil of the market works and this week joint work between the Barcelona Municipal Institute of Markets (IMMB) and the municipal Archeology service began with the aim to be able to document them.
The forecast is that these archaeological works, which are part of the phase prior to the construction of the new Abaceria market, will last about six weeks and will be finished at the beginning of April.
The site where the intervention is being carried out (on Travessera de Gràcia, 186) is included in an Area of Archaeological Interest and of high historical value. That is why any action taken has to be conditioned by a preventive archaeological intervention, which is what has already allowed these remains to be detected.
The Abaceria Central market in Vila de Gràcia was inaugurated in 1892 to organize the activity of the farmers who sold in the neighboring Plaza de la Revolució. The works were carried out on the land where the industrialist Francesc Puigmartí i Caparà's factory, Vapor Nou, was located, which was one of the most important factories at the time dedicated to the cotton industry. The factory employed 800 people at its peak.
In 1852, the Vapor Nou had 120 looms and in 1861 it was visited by Queen Isabel II during her visit to Barcelona. It operated until 1876, when it was destroyed by a fire. Of its facilities, which were dismantled to build the market, only one of the chimneys remains standing, located in the current Poble Romaní square, also in Gràcia.
The remains located occupy practically the entire surface of the site and correspond, first of all, to a part of the main building, located along the central nave of the market (with a documented length of 87.60 meters and a width of 14 meters ); secondly, to the northern sector of the building, of which a series of constructions or annex buildings facing Travessera de Gràcia are preserved, as well as circulation spaces for workers, vehicles and goods.
Thirdly, there is also the factory yard where there were two large underground warehouses. This patio was the nerve center of the factory. The probing ditches have already made it possible to document the pavement that covered practically the entire floor of the patio, made up of gravel, light brown clay with calcareous nodules and tightly packed.
In the first phase of work, carried out between the months of September and December 2021, 38 drilling trenches were opened and three information coves were made on the site. These works did not locate any material or remains associated with the Roman road that coincided with the layout of the Travessera de Gràcia.
Nor have any signs of the presence of air raid shelters from the Civil War been found which, according to information collected in the City Council's Administrative Archive, were located near the market site. According to oral information collected from neighbors, the access to shelter number 0008 would probably be found at the southeast end of Torrijos Street.
The opening of the subfloor will be done both mechanically and manually. When archaeological remains are located, they will be excavated and documented using the most appropriate methodology depending on the moment, always with the approval of the City Council's Archeology service. If access to a bomb shelter is located, the procedure established for these cases will be followed.
The documentation work on all these remains does not alter the planned work schedule for the new Abacería market. The forecast is that they will be finished in the last quarter of 2025.
