Visites · Saint-Sébastien · Market
Mercado de la Bretxa
The old town's food market, whose name, meaning the breach, recalls the exact spot where besieging troops broke through the city walls in 1813 before burning San Sebastián to the ground.
À propos de ce lieu
The Mercado de la Bretxa stands at the edge of the old town, long the city's principal food market and still a place to buy the superb produce of the Basque country and its coast. Its name, Bretxa, meaning breach, carries a dark memory. It marks the very spot in the city walls where, in the summer of 1813, the besieging Anglo-Portuguese army under the Duke of Wellington finally broke through to storm San Sebastián, then held by Napoleon's French garrison. In the violent aftermath the supposedly allied troops sacked and burned almost the entire town, a catastrophe the city has never quite forgotten. A traditional market grew up here afterwards, and although part of the complex was redeveloped into a modern shopping centre, a fresh food market still trades below, keeping alive the Basque devotion to fine ingredients.
À retenir
- 1813 year — The market's name recalls the breach stormed by besieging troops this year
- 1 breach — Bretxa means breach, the point where the city walls were broken through
- 1 market — A fresh food market still trades below the later shopping complex
📍 Arrandegi kalea 8, 20003, Donostia / San Sebastián