Mercado de San Miguel Audio Guide

Mercado de San Miguel: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Mercado de San Miguel

   Welcome to the Mercado de San Miguel, tucked beside the Plaza Mayor in the heart of old Madrid. You are standing on the Plaza de San Miguel, the small square that gives this place its name. Look up and you will see a graceful frame of iron and glass, built in 1916. This is a market with layers. Today it is one of the city's best-known gastronomic markets, where you can wander past stalls offering flavors from every corner of Spain. Beneath that lively surface lies a long story: a medieval parish church, a royal demolition, a street market of wooden stalls, and a building that survived when every other market of its kind in Madrid disappeared. Over the next few minutes we will walk through that story together. We will go back to the church that once stood here, look closely at the ironwork, follow the market through its ups and downs, and finish with what you can notice around you right now. Let's begin with the ground under your feet.

2. 02

   The Church Beneath the Market

   Before there was a market, there was a church. This spot was home to the parish church of San Miguel de los Octoes, and the market still carries its name. The parish was already in existence at the start of the thirteenth century, because the charter of Madrid from 1202 mentions it. Whether the building itself was the original one is not known. This church also has a famous baptism to its credit. It was here that the playwright Lope de Vega was baptized, which is why people often say this corner of Madrid is full of literary echoes. The church's end came in stages. It was one of the buildings hit hardest by the great fire of the Plaza Mayor in 1790. Then came Joseph Bonaparte, who reshaped central Madrid by clearing buildings to open up space. The church was demolished on 28 November 1809. In its place a public square appeared, and the idea took hold of building a market that would inherit the old parish's name.

3. 03

   From Wooden Stalls to an Iron Cathedral of Food

   Once the church was gone, the empty square filled with everyday trade. It became an open-air market for perishable goods, with rows of wooden boxes and small stalls. When the economist and former governor of Madrid, Pascual Madoz, described the city in 1847, he counted 128 wooden stalls and 88 smaller stands in this street market. The building you see now came later, in 1916. One account credits the architect Alfonso Dubé y Díez. It is built on a rectangular plan with two floors, and each floor covers almost 2,000 square meters. The market has facades onto the Plaza del Conde de Miranda and onto the Cava de San Miguel, so it is worth walking around it rather than looking at one side only. Here is the remarkable part. Madrid once had formidable covered markets in this iron-architecture style, including La Cebada, La Paz and Los Mostenses. They all vanished. San Miguel is the only one that has reached our time, and it is protected as a Bien de Interés Cultural, in the category of Monument.

4. 04

   A Market That Reinvented Itself

   Surviving is one thing. Staying alive is another. As the twentieth century went on, supermarkets multiplied and shopping habits changed, and the market slowly lost the central place it once held in everyday Madrid life. In 1999 a major renovation, paid for with European funds and contributions from the merchants themselves, gave the building back its original look. It cost 150 million pesetas of the time. Even so, trade as a traditional food market struggled to compete with modern supermarkets and shopping centers. The answer was to change what the market was for. It became a place to meet, graze and have an aperitif, and in the twenty-first century it was restored again to suit the tastes of today. Now you can find traditional Spanish dishes, wine bars, craft beer and international favorites under one roof. The market is privately owned, and its greatest treasure remains that original iron structure. In a sense, it is a survivor that learned to throw a party.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   You are in one of the most walkable corners of Madrid. The Plaza Mayor is right beside you, and the Royal Palace and the Puerta del Sol are an easy stroll away, so this market fits naturally into a wider wander through the old center. Before you go, try a small exercise. Look at the slender iron columns and the glass, and imagine the same square with a medieval church standing where you are, then with rows of wooden stalls selling fresh produce. Three very different Madrids have shared this one little plaza. Walk once around the outside, past the Plaza del Conde de Miranda and the Cava de San Miguel, and see how the building sits among the old streets. Then let your curiosity pick the next stop, whether that is a bite, a glass of something local, or a walk toward the Plaza Mayor to see the square that once burned in 1790.