An open door to the past, a place where time stands still, a trunk full of relics and treasures from another era, the main reason why it has been called by visitors as "the antique dealers' shed".
PERSA VICTOR MANUEL
THE KING OF THE PERSIANS
Once upon a time, in 1917, in the popular and well-known Barrio Matadero Franklin, there was a building with large sheds that housed a tannery and shoe factory characteristic of the time.
In the early 1980s, this factory ceased production and informal markets were established around this building as a result of a severe economic crisis in Chile.
Chilean society at the time, marked by the rule of the military government, was facing a scenario of many changes, uncertainty and the economic crisis of 1982 brought with it high unemployment rates. This political-economic and social context meant that these informal markets grew more and more.
At that time, the factory was auctioned and the new owners of the building decided to open its doors to the street trade, becoming a place that received hundreds of vendors, craftsmen, cachureros, entrepreneurs of the twentieth century, becoming the first Persian that was installed in the neighborhood.
In the beginning and for a long time, merchants and entrepreneurs installed their products on the ground, which were mainly junk, antiques and restorations, finding in this shed a shelter for hot and rainy days, and a safe place to protect their merchandise.
Its corridors were filled with life and colors, marking the beginning not only of a special decade in our country, but of a historic, iconic and unique place, which has been characterized -until today- by the fact that in it we can find everything: antiques, lamps, furniture, old magazines, stamps, unimaginable books, and an endless number of collector's items.
Con el paso de los años, comenzaron a instalarse otros “mercados persas” en el sector, siguiendo el modelo instaurado por el Persa Víctor Manuel cuya esencia se ha mantenido y al mismo tiempo, se ha ido renovando.
Su popularidad ha crecido y el nombre “Persa Víctor Manuel” resuena, siempre, como un espacio mágico y legendario. Las puertas también se han abierto al mundo del arte, siendo el primer persa en incorporar las actividades culturales y el arte urbano a su recorrido.
The consequent recovery and revitalization of spaces has also given way to the fact that this building of sheds has been strengthened as a meeting point for artistic expressions and an unmissable weekend panorama whose particularity remains intact.
The tenants are the soul of this place, they have been participants and accomplices in the growth of this unique space. The trajectory, the impulse and the recognition of the Persian Victor Manuel have turned this great shed into a model to follow, standing out among the hundreds of Persian sheds existing in our country and in the world.
Raising their voices, resounding in the streets, in the press, in the neighborhood, for their trajectory, for being the first, for their colors, for their people, crowning themselves as the king of Persian culture that transcends epochs and continues to build stories that will mark us forever.