Mercado Central de Salamanca (Salamanca Central Market), Salamanca

The Salamanca Central Market (Mercado Central de Salamanca), restored in 2001, is the oldest food market in the city. Between the 12th and 13th centuries, the city market was located in the Old Cathedral of Salamanca in the square of Azoque Viejo. In time it moved to the area around the Church of San Martin, where the Main Square (Plaza Mayor) would later be built.

In 1899 it was decided to build the covered market of today. Provincial architect D. Joaquin de Vargas Aguirre designed the project, favoring a style of 19th-century iron modernism. The market was finally inaugurated in April 1909. The style followed that imposed by Les Halles in Paris in 1866. Iron markets were becoming popular in Spain.

The goals of the architecture were simplicity, good ventilation, and protection of the goods from the weather. The area of the market is about 19,000 square feet. The iron market takes a form like a huge metal umbrella. It uses a system of latticed beams converging in a rectangular skylight cover held up by 12 cast-iron columns.

The Central Market is built on two floors. It has 41 open stands, 37 of which offer cod, pickles, a bar, meats, bread and pasta, vegetables and fruit, legumes and preserves, fish, seafood, and cheeses. There are Morucha meats, Hinojosa cheese, Guijuelo ham, La Armuna lentils, and beans from Alberca. Four stalls sell non-food miscellaneous items.