The Atarazanas Central Market is a municipal market in the Spanish city of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. The current building, the work of architect Joaquín de Rucoba, was built between 1876 and 1879 on the site of a Nasrid naval workshop. Only a marble door remains, hence its name: atarazana.
The market has a slightly trapezoidal layout structured in three naves. It consists of a metal skeleton made largely of iron from the old Seville steel industry (specifically, the San Antonio Foundry, located on San Vicente Street in Seville, which also built the famous Isabel II Bridge in Seville, better known as the Triana Bridge), enclosed with stone and masonry.
On its main façade, which once faced the sea, is the Nasrid entrance doorway, rebuilt 25 meters forward of its original location. At the rear, this doorway is joined by another metal door in the form of a triangular pediment, opening onto a large semicircular arch with a glass window. Like other 19th-century iron markets in Spain, the Atarazanas market was inspired by the Les Halles market in Paris. The spandrels are decorated with tondos, some depicting fish and cornucopias, and others depicting a human face. The remaining surface is covered with finely molded iron ataurique. It is an example of architectural eclecticism.
The original building featured seven arches, the most monumental of which, a pointed horseshoe, is the one incorporated into the new market. The coat of arms on this arch date it back to the Nasrid period, during the reign of Muhammad V (1354-1391).
From early 2008 until April 2010, renovation work on the market was awarded by the Ministry of Public Works to the company Sacyr Vallehermoso. The new works have served to improve the facilities of the complex, renovate the stalls, replace the roofs with translucent tiles similar in appearance to the original ones (from before the 1966 renovation), and have also included restoring the Atarazanas Gate and examining the archaeological remains found underground. The restoration work includes the 108 panels of the stained-glass window created by the Atienza brothers in 1973, which depict various monuments of the city.
