English
Market
Diu, Guzerate, India
Equipment and Infrastructures
Since the early 19th century, at a site immediately south of the Diu customs quay there was a market and square, where the pillory stood, with its inscription dated 1770. This space was entered via two archways marking the Sea Gate and Land Gate. According to Miguel de Paiva Couceiro, governor of Diu from 1948 to 1950, the square was surrounded by walls marking out private properties, and the old structures were in ruins. With the owners’ agreement, the walls were knocked down and a new market was built following the design of the old arcades and balustrades. The New Bazaar, as it was called at the time, was finished soon after the governor’s exit. The Market is arranged in two complementary spaces: the selling space, where the vendors freely set up their points of sale; and the building, which encloses the space on the sea side, with the vendors arranged below arches along counters opening to the outside. The building has additions on the market space side and recently the arcades on the sea side were closed by a grill, which made it more compact and substantially altered its manner of operating. Even though these changes complicated the reading of the relationships the original structure created between the city and the sea, one can still see that it was one of the most interesting examples of architectural work during the last period of Portuguese rule in Diu.
