The Tragic Story of the Public Market of Bagé

In searching for a program, I looked into the historic patterns of development in Latin America, particularly in the Pampas of Rio Grande do Sul.
The Laws of the Indies established a skeleton for town development in Spanish colonized areas from the 16th to 18th century. Its most notable point was a regular block grid grown from a central open space enclosed by a church, a governmental building, and a public market in most complete cases. The nuclear nature of the cities' souls in these regions are still very evident today and provide many cities with beautiful characteristic and vital spaces.
In the case of Bagé, I am personally affected by the history of these spaces. The city developed around two main public squares - the colonial square flanked by the onion-domed cathedral, and the newer square originally flanked by the public market built in 1862 (as pictured below). My grandfather moved from Brummana, Lebanon, to Bagé in 1935 and opened a textile shop in one of the doors of the public market. Eventually he moved his store to the north side of the square out of the market. In 1953, the city, under Mayor Carlos Kluwe, decided to demolish the market citing the need for the city to grow and the lack of funds for the municipal government. In the place of the market were built a hotel and an office building, while a third building was never fully finished, rebar and all still exposed. The last vestige of the market is the street corner clock, pitifully dominated by a 1960s hotel building.

Mercado Publico de Bagé, circa 1948








Site of the Mercado Publico, 2007