Mercado de San Agustín

"The San Agustín market, with its spectacular parabolic roof, became a symbol of modernity in A Coruña in the 1930s. It is one of the most daring, emblematic and coherent buildings with its purpose in the first half of the 20th century. The San Agustín market is the work of two architects who were key to the formation of the Herculean city in the 20th century, Santiago Rey Pedreira and Antonio Tenreiro, both municipal architects when they signed the project for the new market in 1932. Studies indicate that the municipal architects were inspired by the public market in the French city of Reims to create this structure with a parabolic roof, a challenge for Galicia in the 1930s. In Leipzig, Germany, there is a market with similar characteristics. The unique parabolic roof of the market is made of a 15-centimetre-thick concrete sheet in which glass bands are embedded. Architects do not hesitate to describe the San Agustín market as the Galician “Guggenheim” of its time. At the time of its construction, it was the most innovative, modern and technologically advanced building built in Spain. The project, including its unique concrete shell, is an architectural miracle born from the hands of two professionals who knew how to connect directly with the European avant-garde that was developing in those years from a corner of northern Spain In fact, the San Agustín market is one of the three works in A Coruña included in the catalogue of the prestigious Docomomo (Documentation and Conservation of the Modern Movement), a study prepared by the Mies Van der Rohe Foundation in which the Elviña de Corrales neighbourhood unit and the Universidad Laboral also appear."

"Don´t expect that this market will be that awesome as it is in Barcelona or Valencia but still it is a part of the culture and you should visit it during your stay. They have a lot of fresh fruit, vegetable, fish and so on."