View source for Abelardo L. Rodríguez Market

{{Redirect|Mercado Abelardo L. Rodríguez|the BRT station|Mercado Abelardo L. Rodríguez (Mexico City Metrobús)}}
[[File:FruitsMuralAbRodMktDF.JPG|thumb|300px|Mural by Angel Bracho at one of the entryways into the market]]

The '''Abelardo L. Rodriguez Market''' is a [[Traditional fixed markets in Mexico|traditional public market]] located in the [[historic centre of Mexico city|historic center]] of [[Mexico City]], northeast of the main plaza, or [[Zocalo]]. It was built in 1934 as a prototype for a more modern marketplace and has a number of unusual features such as day care and an auditorium.<ref name="Gomez">{{cite news|first=Laura |last=Gomez Florez |title= Remodelan el histórico mercado Abelardo L. Rodríguez como parte del rescate del Centro |url=http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2008/05/19/index.php?section=capital&article=039n1cap  |publisher=La Jornada |location=Mexico City |date=2008-05-19 |access-date=June 3, 2009 |language=es}}</ref> However, the market's most distinctive feature is the approximately 1,450 square metres of wall and ceiling space covered in [[murals]].<ref name="universal">{{cite news |title=Sobreviven en un mercado murales de discípulos de Diego Rivera |url=http://www.el-universal.com.mx/notas/433638.html |publisher=El Universal |location=Mexico City |date=2007-06-27 |access-date=June 3, 2009 |language=es |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130111200020/http://www.el-universal.com.mx/notas/433638.html |archive-date=January 11, 2013 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> These murals were painted by muralists, some former Diego Rivera helpers.  Rivera had a role in approving artist designs, but little else.<ref name="Gomez"/> The works mostly reflect socialist themes, such as the [[exploitation of labour|exploitation of workers]], peasants and miners, the fight against [[Nazism]] and [[fascism]], and racial discrimination.<ref name="universal"/> Earthquakes, time, humidity and vandalism took their toll on the murals from the time they were painted<ref name="Gomez"/><ref name="universal"/> until restoration began in January 2009. Restoration work is expected to take almost two years.<ref name="universal"/>

==Construction==
[[File:EntranceAbRodMktDF.JPG|thumb|One of the four main entrances]]
The market was constructed in 1934 in what was part of the grounds of the [[San Pedro y San Pablo College (Museum of Light)|San Pedro y San Pablo College]].<ref name="GTM">{{cite book |title= Guia Turistica de Mexico – Distrito Federal Centro 3 |editor= Bueno de Ariztegui, Patricia |year=1984 |publisher=Promexa |location=Mexico City |isbn=968-34-0319-0 |pages=84–85 }}</ref>  The architect was Antonio Muñoz, who mixed [[Baroque architecture|Baroque]], [[Belle Époque]], [[Art Nouveau]] and [[Art Deco]] elements into the building. The market has an area of 12,450 square metres and is the main market for foodstuffs in this part of the city.<ref name="Gomez"/> Upon completion, it was named after the [[Abelardo L. Rodriguez|president of Mexico]] who ordered the complex built.<ref name="universal"/> Eventually, the area around this market became known as “Abelardo.”<ref name="Gomez"/>

==Features==
This market was the second major market built in Mexico City in the first decades of the 20th century, after the Dos de Abril Market built in 1912. Like its predecessor, the Abelard L. Rodriguez market was intended to be a prototype for a new, more modern popular marketplace, first for the large size of the market and second for a number of extra services offered within the building, such as [[day care centers]], youth centers and libraries.<ref name="Gomez"/> 
[[File:FoodVendorsAbRodMktDF.JPG|thumb|Food vendors at the market with the metal roof visible]]
The Abelardo L. Rodriguez market has four large entrances on República de Venezuela, República de Colombia, Del Carmen and Rodríguez Puebla streets respectively.<ref name="Gomez"/> One unusual feature of the building is the metal roof that covers the central patio area. Its most distinctive service is the Teatro del Pueblo (Theatre of the People) auditorium, which is located on the upper floor.<ref name="GTM"/> A number of the services and features of this market were copied in markets built as much as twenty years later, such as the markets of La Lagunilla, Tepito and La Merced.<ref name="mañana">{{cite news|title=Abandonan mercado emblemático |url=http://www.elmanana.com.mx/notas.asp?id=32275 |publisher=El Mañana |location=Mexico City |date=2007-12-21 |access-date=June 3, 2009 |language=es |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722223701/http://www.elmanana.com.mx/notas.asp?id=32275 |archive-date=July 22, 2011 }}</ref>

==Murals==
However, the market's most distinctive feature is the approximately 1,450 square meters of wall and ceiling space covering in murals.<ref name="universal"/> These murals were painted by students of Diego Rivera and under his direction.<ref name="Gomez"/><ref name="universal"/> Six of the ten painters involved with the project were Mexican, three were American and one was Japanese, working to “bring art to the people”<ref name="universal"/> and paid 13.50 pesos (3.75 U.S. dollars approximately) for each square meter painted. The murals are located in the main entrances, vestibules, patios and hallways of the market.<ref name="universal"/>
[[File:HallwayMural1AbRodMktDF.JPG|thumb|Part of entrance painted by Pablo Rendon]]
These murals include: ''Los mercados'' by [[Ángel Bracho]], ''Influencia de las vitaminas'' by [[Antonio Pujol]], ''Los alimentos y los problemas del obrero'' by [[Pedro Rendón]], ''Escenas populares'' by [[Ramón Alva Guadarrama]], ''Las labores del campo'' by [[Grace Greenwood Ames]], ''La minería'' by [[Marion Greenwood]], ''La industrialización del campo'' and  ''Los mercados'' by [[Raúl Gamboa]] as well as the copper-plated relief called ''Historia de México'', by [[Isamu Noguchi]].<ref name="Gomez"/>

The murals reflect socialist themes in part due to the policies of the Mexican government to promote the benefits of the 1910 [[Mexican Revolution]]. They also reflect the concerns of these artists during this time period, leading to themes such as the exploitation of workers, peasants and miners, the fight against Nazism and fascism, and racial discrimination. On the upper floor, Noguchi created a wall sculpture combined with painting called ''La historia de Mexico'', in which can be seen fists, [[swastikas]], skeletons and [[Albert Einstein]]’s formula E=mc2.<ref name="universal"/>

This mural work quickly gave the market and the neighborhood around it prominence. It has been ranked fourth in value after the murals in the [[Palacio de Bellas Artes]], the [[Secretaria de Educacion Publica]] building and the [[National Palace (Mexico)|National Palace]].<ref name="Gomez"/> Noguchi's work alone has been valued at two million U.S. dollars.<ref name="milenio">{{cite news|first=Veronica |last=Diaz |title=Restauran murales del mercado Abelardo Rodríguez |url=http://impreso.milenio.com/node/8521183 |publisher=Milenio |location=Mexico City |date=2009-01-18 |access-date=June 3, 2009 |language=es |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090611041242/http://impreso.milenio.com/node/8521183 |archive-date=June 11, 2009 }}</ref> However, in spite of this, these murals are practically unknown by domestic or international visitors to the city.<ref name="Gomez"/>

==Deterioration of murals and other problems==
[[File:FacadeTPuebloDF.JPG|thumb|left|Main entrance to the section of the building that has the Teatro del Pueblo]]
From the time the murals were painted in the 1930s to 2009, there had been no organized effort by authorities to conserve the murals painted here. The [[1985 Mexico City earthquake|1985 earthquake]], humidity, the passage of time, the lack of maintenance and vandalism took their toll on the artwork.<ref name="Gomez"/> Almost all of the murals showed some level of damage<ref name="Gomez"/> with only the murals painted by [[Pablo O'Higgins]] at the entrance located at Del Carmen and Rodriguez Puebla were in good condition. This is primarily because these works were done on the ceiling and upper portions of high walls.<ref name="mañana"/> One of the murals in the worst condition was ''Influencia de las vitaminas'' by Angel Bracho, with over 50% of the surface area damaged, mostly by humidity. A wall that holds a work by Marion Greenwood is cracked, possibly due to the 1985 earthquake. The rest of the paintings are damaged by scratches, humidity and small cracks due to the same earthquake,<ref name="milenio"/> with those at arms reach suffering from graffiti and other vandalism.<ref name="mañana"/>

The lack of maintenance and protection of the murals was primarily due to disputes between government agencies such as the [[Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes]] (INBA) and the Mexico City government as to who had the responsibility for them.<ref name="universal"/> In 1998, merchants in the market banded together to create an organization to restore the murals and to get the market included in the various tourism promotions of the city government. While this particular effort failed, new efforts surfaced in the 2000s. The merchant association installed acrylic screens over a number of the murals to protect them, but the city government stated that these did not let the murals “breathe” and could cause damage, so they were removed. Until 2008, efforts by merchants had mostly consisted of not letting children play ball against the murals and not leaning merchandise or other materials against them.<ref name="universal"/>

Other problems for the market include the large number of wandering and informal street vendors that are on the streets outside market and nearly block passage through the four main entrances into it and block access to the murals with their merchandise. This has been a problem here for over thirty years. In addition, the crime rate in this neighborhood has caused the more than 330 merchants here have seen their sales drop by eighty percent.<ref name="Gomez"/>

==Restoration of murals==
With more than a thousand square metres of mural work, some of it very valuable, restoration work began in 2009.<ref name="Gomez"/><ref name="milenio"/> Promises by the authority for the Historic Center of Mexico City in 2008 gave merchants here hope that needed changes would be made and the market would become as prominent as it was when it opened in 1934. Both the city and the merchants expressed interest in including the market in a tourist corridor to be ready for the [[Celebration of Mexican political anniversaries in 2010|Bicentennial celebrations in 2010]].<ref name="Gomez"/> A concrete plan with a budget of 2,400,000 pesos was signed by city government, the city's Authority of the Historic Center, the  Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (INBA) and the [[Cuauhtémoc, D.F.|Cuauhtémoc borough]] late in 2008.<ref name="2universal">{{cite news |title= Restauran el mercado Abelardo Rodríguez y el Teatro del Pueblo  |url= http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/553161.html |publisher=El Universal |agency= Notimex |location=Mexico City |date=2008-11-05 |access-date=June 3, 2009 |language=es  }}</ref> Work on restoring the murals began in January 2009. Merchants here have expressed willingness to help with restoration of the murals, with which many of them grew up. One example is Hugo León, who runs a juice business that he inherited from his father, located under the mural ''La elaboración del carbón'' by Ramón Alva Guadarrama. Work on this mural forced him to move and shut down temporarily, but he says he did so gladly. He and other merchants here have worked to clean the market and make way for the work being done, according to Leticia Ramirez, a leader of the merchants.  Restoration work is scheduled to last approximately 23 months.<ref name="milenio"/>

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Commons}}

==Further reading==
*Acevedo, Esther. "Young Muralists at the Abelardo L. Rodriguez Market." in [https://books.google.com/books/about/Mexican_Muralism.html?id=PEPVuQAACAAJ ''Mexican Muralism: A Critical History''], Alejandro Anreus, Robin Adèle Greeley, and Leonard Folgarait.  Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press 2012, pp.&nbsp;125–147.

{{Historic buildings of Mexico City Centro}}
{{Mercado públicos of Mexico City}}

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[[Category:Retail markets in Mexico City]]
[[Category:Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City]]
[[Category:Art Deco architecture in Mexico]]
[[Category:Historic center of Mexico City]]