Mexico City's oldest traditional art market.

• Author: Sorrentino, Joseph
• Position: ART

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San Ángel is a peaceful enclave tucked away just three blocks from Revolución, one of Mexico City's busiest thoroughfares. It's an area of narrow cobblestone streets lined with brightly painted colonial-era houses, boutiques, galleries, and restaurants. On Saturdays, it's also home to Mexico's longest running market for traditional arts.

Every Saturday morning since 1964, traditional and indigenous artists have set up their stalls in a tiny park called Plaza Tenanitla. Some of the artisans are the children and even grandchildren of the original founders of the market. While some of the market's artists live nearby, many make the weekly trek from cities and villages in the states of Puebla, Guerrero, and Mexico. They travel by bus, making trips that may take up to four hours.

According to Lucio Ramirez Villanueva, the market had a rather informal beginning in the early 1960s. Jim Tillet, an American, opened a small store in San Ángel from which he sold traditional artwork. It was successful, attracting many tourists to the area. Word spread and soon artists from around the city and surrounding states began setting up stalls nearby. The Saturday Bazaar (as it had come to be known) was eventually organized into a formal art association and renamed Tianguis Artesanal Tenanitla. Although the market has grown from its modest beginnings, it has stayed true to its original purpose.

"We want to continue and preserve traditional arts," said Lucio. "The intention is to preserve Mexican customs and traditions." In addition to his role as president of Tianguis for the past ten years, Lucio has a stall in the market from which he sells antiques. "I'm not an artist in the traditional sense," he said. "I restore antiques, which I suppose is a kind of art."

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Plaza Tenanitla is just a sliver of a park, shaped like a narrow triangle; Lucio calls it a cuchillo jardin (knife garden) in his book, Tianguis Artesanal Tenanitla A. C. Early on Saturday mornings, it is transformed from a small urban park into a bustling art market as vendors unload goods from their carts, vans, or taxis and set up their stalls. The market soon fills with the vibrant colors of traditional crafts made by the artists or their families.

Although the majority of stalls are set within the confines of the park, about a dozen are scattered around the perimeter, including María de Jesús Bernal's stand which is co-manned by her son, Marco Antonio...