The colorful maze of 355 stalls and workshops, with handcrafted artifacts ranging from silver trinkets and creative ceramics to regional clothing and Michoacán- style guitars, is the principal source of income for more than 20,000 artisans and their employees.

The sprawling market has drawn tourists from across the globe since its inauguration in 1966. Veteran shop owners estimate that between 60 percent and 70 percent of Ciudadela customers are foreigners.

But the beloved market may end up the victim of its own advantages.

It sits on 16,000 square meters of prime real estate on Balderas Avenue just south of Paseo de la Reforma, a once-vibrant section of the city that has declined since the 1985 earthquake.

Mexico City´s government has been eyeing the property as a potential keystone for a major redevelopment project in the area, roughly between the Hidalgo and Balderas Metro stations.

At the same time, the Ciudadela´s formerly hands-off landlord, the Chamber of Deputies, now wants to cash in the valuable property by trading it to the Senate for a much-coveted, Senate-owned building inside the Legislative Palace of San Lázaro.

The Senate, in turn, plans on selling the Ciudadela property to a developer and using the profit to help finance a new 1.5 billion-peso Senate headquarters to be built on Paseo de la Reforma near Insurgentes Avenue.

That building will replace the stately but too-small century-old Senate headquarters on Xicoténcatl Street next to the National Art Museum between Donceles and Tacuba. The old building will probably become a museum.

Carlos Navarrete, coordinator of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) faction in the Senate, revealed the scheme in March after a closed-door meeting between senators from all parties and Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard.

"We´re going to put it up for sale under conditions that a modern development will be built there that will rescue the Ciudadela area within the framework projected by the city government," Sen. Navarrete said then.

Statements like that have the Ciudadela artisans worried and frustrated.

"They talk about this place as though it were an empty lot," said José Antonio Menéndez, president of the association that represents the artisans that work and sell at the Ciudadela.

Menéndez and concerned artisans say they have tried to initiate contact with the city government and the federal legislature, but to no avail. Their efforts to seek a solution, they say, have been hampered by the inconvenient fact that they´ve never been officially notified of any planned changes in the Ciudadela´s status.

"As of now, nobody has said a single word to us," Menéndez said. "Everything we know we get from the newspapers."

The Ciudadela artisans seem to be placing their hopes for survival on convincing the legislators and the city government that the market´s cultural and economic importance should be given more consideration. They say they´ll continue to urge officials to take a tour of the market.

In the meantime, they´re soliciting support from Ciudadela lovers from around the world, asking them to send e-mails to ciudadela_df@hotmail.com.

Artisan representatives have already circulated to the media letters of support from Colombia, Argentina, Canada, Australia and France, among other countries.

Menéndez is worried that once the authorities decide to move, they will move too quickly to be stopped. "They could come in at any moment with an evacuation order," he said.

He also questioned the assumption that improvement of the area depends on replacing an historic arts and craft site with a shopping plaza.

"There are lots of malls," he said. "But there is only one Ciudadela."