Professor T. Szafer was an excellent academic, scholar, writer, organiser of numerous conferences devoted to the Polish contemporary architecture, author of ca. 300 scientific papers. Professor Szafer was a distinguished expert on the most recent architecture, and his publications on the Polish architecture after the World War II from the 1970s and 1980s have been cited during many scientific conferences and constitute the fundamental critical literature from that period, especially today, when the issue of the protection of the Polish architecture erected in that period has become essential.
In the article the author acquaints the readers with a number of renovated nineteenth-century market halls, that are located in Barcelona, as well as the Markthal, a new and large market hall opened in Rotterdam in 2014. Avant-garde contemporary designs were presented, demonstrating the philosophy of introducing new shapes into a historical environment different for each architect. Apart from the predominant function of selling foodstuffs from practically all over the world, market halls are places, that are proof of the individuality and local traditions of every European city.