Modelo Market

Modelo Market (Portuguese: Mercado Modelo) is a handicraft market located in the city of Salvador, Bahia state, Brazil. It was inaugurated on February 2, 1912, and has occupied, since 1971, the building of the old Salvador Customs House. It is located in the Comércio neighborhood, one of the oldest and most traditional commercial areas of Salvador, and is an important tourist attraction, visited by 80% of the city's tourists. Facing the Bay of All Saints, it is next to the Lacerda Elevator and the Historic Center (which includes Pelourinho). In neoclassical style architecture, the building is listed by the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional - IPHAN). With 8,410 square meters and two floors, it houses 266 stores that offer the largest variety of handicrafts, gifts, and souvenirs from Bahia, and has two of the most traditional Bahian restaurants, Maria de São Pedro, with eighty years of existence, and Camafeu de Oxóssi. The song Mercado Modelo, by Antônio Carlos, Jocafi and Ildázio Tavares, laments in its lyrics the 1969 fire that destroyed the original building. The song was recorded in 1973 by the singer Vanusa and released on her fourth album.