PLAÇA DE L'AJUNTAMENT
In this central spot of the city there is the city council building from around the year 1757, when it was built following a design by the military engineer of Sant Ferran Castle, Joan M. Cermeño. From an architectural point of view we might note particularly the porches, altered in the first half of the 19th century when the medieval square was rebuilt. In a severe neoclassical style, the outline is by the Figueres architect and master of fortifications Rafael Cantró, who followed the architectural reference of the porched zones of Sant Ferran Castle. In the square, out in the open air, the market was set up for many years, with stalls for selling agriculturual products and other products of local toolmakers.
The present City Hall building dates from a 1929 plan by the architext Ricard Giralt i Casadesús, and was not to be completed finally until the 1940s, once the Civil War had ended.
PLAÇA DE LES PATATES. FORMER PLAÇA DEL GRA VELLA
The initial project dates from the year 1825, and was in response to the grain sellers' need for mor space, once the spaces in the Plaça de l'Ajuntament could no longer be expanded due to addition of the new porches. In 1825 the architect Rafael Cantró presented the Pouet planning project, which addressed only part of the urbanisation of the new square, altering the alignement and creating two new porches forming an angle, in the same style as those in the Paça de l'Ajuntament.
PLAÇA DEL GRA
The new grain square or "covered square" is the former market. It is in the centre of Figueres and was constructed in 1826 as a public area for a market. In 1887 Puig i Saguer created the present structure with a roof of iron, wood and tiles, in one of the city's most original and representative constructions, under the auspices of the Vilallongas, Figueres iron manufacturers . It is a simple yet highly harmonious structure forming a singular area. Its 36 iron columns support a covered area devoted to a colourful and lively food market on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
PLAÇA DOCTOR ERNEST VILA AND PLAÇA DE CATALUNYA
The square is in the historic centre right where the former Figueres hospital, built in the 17th century and destroyed in Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) aerial bombing, used to stand. The way it is laid out, combining water and areas laid to garden as ornamental features, is a clear example of 1960s town planning, when the city's urban expansion was starting. The illuminated fountain, the work of the engineer Buïgas, was inaugurated in 1965. After this square, if we head east we come to Plaça Catalunya, inaugurated in 1994 and laid over an underground car park. This square is prolonged into a children's play area.
