THE BOQUERIA MARKET

For many Barcelonans, and many passers-by, the Boqueria market is another member of the family. Its presence in one of the liveliest parts of the city (the Rambla), the fame of the characters that come and shop there, as well as the variety of its products, have converted it into a kind of symbol, something more than a market. The Boqueria is a polyhedral body, a living being with many faces: the Medieval Boqueria, in the middle of the Rambla, with a free, spontaneous and chaotic air about it; the nineteenth century Boqueria, a public service acquired by the town hall during the confiscation process; the literary Boqueria, a source of myths and legends; and the Boqueria of today, popular and sophisticated at the same time, touristy but also living testimony to an artisan Barcelona that has not completely disappeared. Isabel Obiols and Pere Ferrer have wandered through the present day market and delved into its past, in such a way that this spectacular book is a beautiful, respectful and comprehensive approximation, through words and images, of all those nooks and crannies of the Boqueria, “an absolutely inexplicable microcosm.”