Curepipe Old Market Viewed from the Municipal Garden – 1970s
This Curepipe Market as we see in the image is no more and has been replaced by the current one we can see today in 2014 (picture further down). It was a much better looking building even though it had problems. In 1975, after the Cyclone of Gervaise, the Curepipe market faced much damage which also contributed in the reasons to pull it down. For sure it wasn’t a better decision.
The history behind the market dates back since 1878. In the beginning, the market place of Curepipe was just a hall of teck wood covered with ‘bardeaux’, and to be more precise, it was erected on the 2nd of December 1878. This first building belonged to a wealthy man who made his business out of it. It was named ‘The Martial Market’ (Le Marché Martial) most probably because of its owner. Afterwards this was transferred under the control of the ‘Medical Bureau’, which again in 1915, transferred under the Board of Curepipe. It is good to note at that time there wasn’t a Municipality yet. It was the ‘Board’ which took all decisions, and the Board had its own selected members.
The Board of Curepipe pulled down that small market it was and in its place erected this much bigger building we can see in the picture above. The ‘New’ Market was constructed by Mr Maurice Loumeau and was inaugurated in 1917. Now we know the story that follows until 1975 where this building was again pulled down and replaced by the eliptical style building we know of today.
Below we have a direct comparison of the new and the old Curepipe Market, 1940 vs 2013. Make your own judgement.
Curepipe Market – 1940s/2013
Curepipe since the early 1990s has been quite a neglected town… probably due to wrong politics, and instead of moving forward, an unanimous common observation sees that the town which was once among the most prestigious places of the island is now among the worst maintained towns.
And a little bonus, the Old Market back in 1957. One of the better views these days. Courtesy of: Sophie Cayeux
Curepipe Old Market – 1957 (Courtesy: Sophie Cayeux)
