Mercado Municipal El Salvador de Mutxamel

The building that now houses the market hall was built in 1932 as the El Salvador coeducational school and was the first landmark building on Carlos Soler Avenue, the street that marked the beginning of the expansion of Mutxamel’s historic district; later, the Civil Guard barracks and City Hall would be built there. Its conversion into an indoor market was proposed as one of the municipality’s strategic projects to replace the old market hall on Ramón y Cajal Street, a small facility that, in its final years, housed six shops and a bar. The project, presented in 2018 with an initial budget of 1,113,104.45 euros—financed largely by the Alicante Provincial Council—aimed to double the number of existing food stalls, expand the range of dining options, and restore the building’s original appearance, including the arcades and the arch above the facade’s windows. The work involved demolishing the interior spaces, restoring the original structure using the walls and wooden beams of the former school, and remodeling the rear courtyard into a plaza and parking lot. The work was completed in March 2023 with a final investment of nearly 1.5 million euros, more than half of which was covered by the provincial government and the rest by the town council, and the market opened to the public that same year. Vendors from the old market were able to exercise their right of first refusal to move into the new building, where administrative concessions are granted for a term of twenty-five years. The market’s opening reorganized commerce in the city center: in 2024, the town council also moved the weekly street market to Carlos Soler Avenue, across from the building, to bring together the market hall, the street market, and the area’s traditional shops in a single location. The exact date of the public opening has not been identified.