The Atarazanas market is in the place where the Nasrid shipyards stood until the 14th Century and which, after the Christian conquest of the city, were used for storage and as an arsenal, military hospital and barracks.

In 1868, the Revolutionary Council applied for their demolition to give work "to the poorer classes," although this did not take place until 1870. That year, the municipal architect Joaquín Rucoba won approval for a new market to be built on the site that, subsequently, was known as Alfonso XII Market.

Thanks to the intercession of the Academia de Bellas Artes de San Telmo (San Telmo's Academy of Fine Arts), the ancient monumental door of the old shipyards was saved and transferred to the centre of the main façade of the new building, which, in an exercise in accordance with the pre-existing work, Rucoba designed in neo-Arab style, although using a great deal of glass and iron.

This ensured that, although almost all of the old Muslim construction disappeared, Málaga was given a suitable and necessary market building and one of the city's best examples of 19th century architecture. The market opened its doors to the public in 1879. The building was renovated between 2008 and 2010, in order to recover its original design.

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