Description
La Boqueria is Barcelona's most famous food market, opening off La Rambla a short walk from the Liceu opera house: more than 300 stalls under an iron roof, piled with fruit, vegetables, fish, meat and produce from far away.
Its full name is the Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria. Locals shop here and so do the city's restaurant cooks, and it is one of the places visitors to Barcelona put first on their list.
The entrance from La Rambla is the first thing to see: a big iron arch with colored stained glass, built in 1913 by the architect Antoni de Falguera on bases clad in broken tiles. Wrought-iron garlands of flowers hold up Barcelona's old coat of arms, also in stained glass.
Beyond it, the iron roof of 1914 covers the market in five parallel aisles. Around the edges runs an older arcaded square with giant Ionic columns, designed in 1840 by the city architect Josep Mas i Vila; a renovation in 2000 freed the columns from the stalls that had hidden them.
Inside, the stalls range from the local to the exotic. Fishmongers, butchers, greengrocers, bakers, herbalists and sellers of nuts and pulses work side by side, and more and more stands offer specialties from Japan, Italy, Greece and the Arab world. Over the centuries most of the stalls have been run by women.
The market is far older than its building. At least since the 13th century, peddlers and farmers from the nearby fields set up their goods in the open outside the city gate, so as not to pay the duty on goods entering the walls.
The name probably comes from the Catalan boc, "goat": a boqueria would be a place where goat meat was sold.
The square stands on the site of a convent of Discalced Carmelites dedicated to Saint Joseph, burned in a riot in 1835 and then demolished: hence the official name. Fittingly, the first stone of the new market was laid on Saint Joseph's Day, 19 March 1840.
Even the flower stalls of La Rambla owe something to the market: many sellers used to give a flower with every purchase of food. The central passage from La Rambla is named after Ramon Cabau, a gastronome who came to the market every morning and was a friend of many stallholders.
Don't miss
• The stained-glass arch on La Rambla.
• The arcaded square with its Ionic columns.
• The fish and fruit stalls.
Did you know?
• The market covers about 2,600 square meters, and in 1217 it was only a few tables selling meat by the old city gate.
Its full name is the Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria. Locals shop here and so do the city's restaurant cooks, and it is one of the places visitors to Barcelona put first on their list.
The entrance from La Rambla is the first thing to see: a big iron arch with colored stained glass, built in 1913 by the architect Antoni de Falguera on bases clad in broken tiles. Wrought-iron garlands of flowers hold up Barcelona's old coat of arms, also in stained glass.
Beyond it, the iron roof of 1914 covers the market in five parallel aisles. Around the edges runs an older arcaded square with giant Ionic columns, designed in 1840 by the city architect Josep Mas i Vila; a renovation in 2000 freed the columns from the stalls that had hidden them.
Inside, the stalls range from the local to the exotic. Fishmongers, butchers, greengrocers, bakers, herbalists and sellers of nuts and pulses work side by side, and more and more stands offer specialties from Japan, Italy, Greece and the Arab world. Over the centuries most of the stalls have been run by women.
The market is far older than its building. At least since the 13th century, peddlers and farmers from the nearby fields set up their goods in the open outside the city gate, so as not to pay the duty on goods entering the walls.
The name probably comes from the Catalan boc, "goat": a boqueria would be a place where goat meat was sold.
The square stands on the site of a convent of Discalced Carmelites dedicated to Saint Joseph, burned in a riot in 1835 and then demolished: hence the official name. Fittingly, the first stone of the new market was laid on Saint Joseph's Day, 19 March 1840.
Even the flower stalls of La Rambla owe something to the market: many sellers used to give a flower with every purchase of food. The central passage from La Rambla is named after Ramon Cabau, a gastronome who came to the market every morning and was a friend of many stallholders.
Don't miss
• The stained-glass arch on La Rambla.
• The arcaded square with its Ionic columns.
• The fish and fruit stalls.
Did you know?
• The market covers about 2,600 square meters, and in 1217 it was only a few tables selling meat by the old city gate.