Feira Livre, Mercado Municipal e as transformações do Centro Histórico de Santo Amaro/BA

Abstract

The Historical Center is an important neighborhood in the city of Santo Amaro, located in the region of Recôncavo da Bahia, whose origin dates back to the 18th and 19th centuries. This neighborhood has, among its characteristics, a Free Market, a Municipal Market and a disfigured architectural complex. Based on researches in rare 19th and early 20th century periodicals from the cities of Santo Amaro and Salvador, and the analysis of the inventory of Santo Amaro's architectural assets prepared by IPAC/BA in 1976, comparing it with the current scenario of the Historical Center, we established two moments for the present investigation: in the first moment, we discovered the existence of an old Public Barn, as well as the history of the Municipal Market and the emergence of the Free Fair that occurs on the banks of the Subaé River. In the second moment, having the Fair and the Market as guides, we propose a reflection about the architectural complex of the Historical Center, from which we can deduce questions related to the valorization of the urban patrimony, considering the tense relation between its preservation, neglect and destruction. It is worth mentioning that our view of the issue of heritage preservation has been broadened by the use of these spaces by the Santamaran population and its visitors, who engender a series of socioeconomic and cultural relations there. As a result of these peculiarities, this research was fostered by theoretical references based on different areas of knowledge, such as architecture, urbanism, anthropology and sociology. The methodological approach was qualitative and was based on information about the city, the Free Fair phenomenon and the formation of the Historical Center in its spatial and organizational construction processes.