Municipal Market Building (MERCATO DI PORTOLAGO)

THE MUNICIPAL MARKET OF LAKKI (MERCATO DI PORTOLAGO)

The construction of this imposing building, with the clock-tower, begun in 1934 and went on until 1936. Contractor – engineer: URBAN-ESPAIN, cooperating companies. Supervisor: MARIO PANERAI, Unknown architect

Butcher’s and fruit shops are housed in its circular peristyle with the atrium and the four entrances.

The ground-floor part of the western side of the building used to house shops; the arched colonnade of the same side was added later and destroyed the feel of the architectural synthesis.

The first floor of the building housed the Italian High School, while the indoor spaces of the Clock Tower, housed the services of the Italian Municipality of Lakki (MUNCIPIO DI PORTOLAGO). According to Professor Antoniadis, composition-wise, the building of the circular market, with the clock, is one of the best, buildings of international style, in the world. The sensitive combination of circles with rectangular coordinates and the embrace of cubic volumes with spherical-cylindrical masses, so intensely and artfully constructed in this building, constitute unique elements of its strength, making it stand out in the pantheon of creations of that time.