Mercado González Ortega

The Mercado González Ortega is a wonderful historic market and a chance to pop into one of the many pink quarry stone buildings in the Zacatecas city center. Today it's a major center for visitors to the city, but also a glimpse back to turn of the century Zacatecas. The market is actually the third one on this site, and replaces several older markets destroyed by fires.

Construction began here in 1861 during the Interim Governorship of General Miguel Auza. He used the space to host a fair celebrating the liberal victory during the the Reforma War. Soon after, that fair was converted to a building intended to improve commercial security and doubtless just to clear some of the vendors from the always crowded streets. That initial market lasted until 1886 when a subsequent Governor, Marcelino Morfín Chávez ordered it rebuilt. His extravagant new building boasted multiple floors for buying and selling with the ground floor just for storage. It lasted until 1901 when a spectacular fire consumed the entire thing.

Just a year later, in 1902, the building we see today re-emerged from the still-smoking ashes. It reopened on December 22 and was usually just referred to as the Central Market until it was formally renamed for General Jesús González Ortega in 1921. González Ortega was an ally of Benito Juarez during the Reforma period of the mid-19th century. 

Today the market is a lot less boisterous than the other big markets in the city, most notably the Mercado Genaro Codina. It's nicknamed El Laberinto and that gives some indication of its sprawling nature. The Mercado González Ortega offers a dignified and solid home for a number of cafes, smaller restaurants, silver shops and similar leather goods shops. Today, there is a tattoo shop and some mobile phone stores, but it's mostly a place to explore and get a sense of how the city, and perhaps much of the north of the country, used to feel and appear. Out the back of the market on the southwest end is the multi-leveled and curiously faceted Plazuela Francisco Goitia. It's named for the Zacatecas artist also celebrated in a nearby museum.