Luque () is a city in

Central Department Central () is a department in Paraguay. The capital is Areguá. With 2,243,792 inhabitants, it is the most populated and the smallest of the 17 departments of Paraguay. Boundaries *North: the departments of Cordillera and Presidente Hayes *Wes ...

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

, part of the

Gran Asunción Greater Asunción ( es, Gran Asunción), is the metropolitan area of the capital city of Paraguay, Asunción. It consists of twenty cities: Asunción itself, the capital, and the surrounding cities in Central Department. One in three Paraguayans ...

metropolitan area. Both 1635 and 1750 have been recorded as dates of its founding. It was temporarily the capital of Paraguay in 1868 during the

Paraguayan War The Paraguayan War, also known as the War of the Triple Alliance, was a South American war that lasted from 1864 to 1870. It was fought between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, the Empire of Brazil, and Uruguay. It was the deadlies ...

before relocation to San Estanislao. It is located at around . Luque is one of the most important cities in the country. The city counts as home of Paraguay's main international airport,

Silvio Pettirossi International Airport Silvio Pettirossi International Airport is an international airport in Luque, Paraguay, which serves Paraguay's capital city, Asunción, and indirectly serves the nearby city of Clorinda, Formosa in Argentina. The airport is named after Paraguay ...

and the

Ñu Guasú Park The Ñu Guasú Park (Spanish: ''Parque Ñu Guasú'') is an urban park located in Luque, in the Greater Asuncion area, in Paraguay, near the Silvio Pettirossi International Airport. It was turned into a recreational park covering 25 hectares. It i ...

, which is where the

Paraguayan Olympic Committee The Paraguayan Olympic Committee or COP () is the National Olympic Committee representing Paraguayan athletes in the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Pan American Games. It was created and recognized by the International Olympic Comm ...

is also located. The continental

governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ge ...

of association football in South America,

CONMEBOL The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL, , or CSF; es, Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol; pt, Confederação Sul-Americana de Futebol) is the continental governing body of football in South America (apart from Guyana, Suri ...

, has its headquarters approximately 3 minutes from the Airport, consisting of the South American Football Museum and walking distance from the Bourbon CONMEBOL Asunción Convention Hotel. When it existed, ARPA – Aerolíneas Paraguayas had its headquarters in the ARPA Terminal on the grounds of the airport. It is a center of production of Guitars and

Paraguayan harp The Paraguayan harp is the national instrument of Paraguay, and similar instruments are used elsewhere in South America, particularly Venezuela. It is a diatonic harp with 32, 36, 38 or 40, 42 or 46 strings, made from tropical wood, pine and c ...

s as well as ''Filigranas'',

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

and

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

filigree

jewelry Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry (U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a western ...

including the seven-band ring ''Carretón de Siete Ramales''. On 27 January 2016, Paraguayan Newspaper

La Nación ''La Nación'' () is an Argentine daily newspaper. As the country's leading conservative newspaper, ''La Nación''s main competitor is the more liberal '' Clarín''. It is regarded as a newspaper of record for Argentina. Its motto is: "''La Nac ...

had reported that

Carlos Echeverría Estigarribia Carlos may refer to: Places ;Canada * Carlos, Alberta, a locality ;United States * Carlos, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Carlos, Maryland, a place in Allegany County * Carlos, Minnesota, a small city * Carlos, West Virginia ;Elsewher ...

, the elected intendent of the city of Luque, states his intention of wanting Luque to be one of the most important cities.

Toponymy

The name Luque is first mentioned in 1635, in an act of the Cabildo of

Asunción Asunción (, , , Guarani: Paraguay) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of ...

when the colonial governor of the

Governorate of Paraguay The Governorate of Paraguay ( es, Gobernación del Paraguay), originally called the Governorate of Guayrá, was a governorate of the Spanish Empire and part of the Viceroyalty of Peru. Its seat was the city of Asunción; its territory roughly e ...

, Martín Ledesma de Valderrama, granted two leagues of land to a Spanish Captain named Miguel Antón de Luque in a place near Asunción known as ''las Salinas''. According to the act this was the place where Captain Antón de Luque had been working an

Encomienda The ''encomienda'' () was a Spanish labour system that rewarded conquerors with the labour of conquered non-Christian peoples. The labourers, in theory, were provided with benefits by the conquerors for whom they laboured, including military ...

for more than twenty years. A century later, in 1743, another Miguel de Luque, a descendant of the first mentioned, made a donation by testament of a section of those lands to the

Franciscans , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

who built a chapel for the devotion of the

Virgin of the Rosary Our Lady of the Rosary, also known as Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, is a Marian title. The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, formerly known as Feast of Our Lady of Victory and Feast of the Holy Rosary is celebrated on 7 October in the General Roma ...

in 1750 - 1755, and from that time the old name of Salinas was changed to Valle de Luque. In 1781, governor

Pedro Melo de Portugal Pedro de Melo de Portugal y Vilhena (29 April 1733 in Badajoz – 15 April 1797 in Buenos Aires) was a Spanish soldier and politician, who served as viceroy in the Rio de la Plata. Biography He was a member of the Melo de Portugal family, a ...

made the first administrative division of the Governorate of Paraguay into six towns and designated the district with the name Partido de Luque.

Geography

The city of Luque extends from

Ypacaraí Lake Ypacaraí Lake is a major body of water located in Paraguay, about east of the capital, Asunción. The lake lies in the western part of the Asunción-Sapucai-Villarrica graben, a tectonic depression from the Mesozoic Era, and drains to the no ...

to the western bank of the

Paraguay River The Paraguay River (Río Paraguay in Spanish, Rio Paraguai in Portuguese, Ysyry Paraguái in Guarani) is a major river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina. It flows about from its headwaters in ...

. Luque is located to the East of

and borders the following cities: * To the North with

Mariano Roque Alonso Mariano Roque Alonso Romero (16 August 1792 Ybytimí – 7 August 1853) was President of the Provisional Junta of Paraguay from 9 February 1841 to 14 March 1841. On 14 March 1841, he established a government ruling jointly with Carlos Antonio L� ...

Limpio The city of Limpio (; formerly known as Tapúa) is located in the Central Department, Paraguay. It was founded on February 2, 1785, by the Friar Luís de Bolaños under the name of San José de los Campos Limpios de Tapúa. It was one of the fi ...

and Nueva Colombia * To the South with Fernando de la Mora and San Lorenzo * To the East with

Areguá Areguá () is the capital of Central Department in Paraguay, located from the capital, Asunción. The city lies between Ypacaraí Lake to the east and hills to the west. Areguá is known for its colonial architecture and historic cobblestone s ...

* To the West with

* To the Southeast with Capiatá

Demography

Luque is the third-most populated city of Paraguay, after the

capital city A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, Department (country subdivision), department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city ...

and

Ciudad del Este Ciudad del Este (, Spanish for Eastern City; often shortered as CDE) is the second-largest city in Paraguay and capital of the Alto Paraná Department, situated on the Paraná River. It is located 327 km from Asunción, the capital, and is ...

. It is the most populated city of the Central Department of Paraguay.

Gallery

File:Asunción - Edificio CSF.JPG,

Headquarters, in Luque, Paraguay File:Retablo papal.jpg, The main altarpiece made of maize,

calabaza Calabaza is the generic name in the Spanish language for any type of winter squash. Within an English-language context it specifically refers to what is also known as the West Indian pumpkin, a winter squash typically grown in the West Indies, t ...

and coconut, especially for the 2015 visit by Pope Francis to Paraguay, in Luque File:Monumento Cooperación Paraguay Korea 1 - panoramio.jpg, The

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

Cooperation Monument, in Luque File:Hinchada Sportivo Luqueño.jpg, ''Chanchohooligans'', one of many

Sportivo Luqueño Club Sportivo Luqueño is a Paraguayan football club, based in the city of Luque on the outskirts of the capital Asunción. The club has won two Paraguayan championships. History The club was founded in 1921 when three teams from the city of L ...

's groups of fans File:Paraguayan Air Force.jpg, Paraguayan Air Force, in Luque File:Lapacho rosa en floración - panoramio.jpg, A '' Tajy'' at Ñu Guasú Park, Luque, Paraguay

Twin towns

Luque is twinned with: *

Ituzaingó, Buenos Aires Ituzaingó () is the capital of the Ituzaingó Partido in the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area, Argentina, west of Buenos Aires. Overview Ituzaingó has been the capital of the Ituzaingó Partido or municipality of Buenos Aires Province ...

, Argentina * San Juan Bautista, Paraguay *

Luque Luque () is a city in Central Department of Paraguay, part of the Gran Asunción metropolitan area. Both 1635 and 1750 have been recorded as dates of its founding. It was temporarily the capital of Paraguay in 1868 during the Paraguayan War b ...

, Spain

Notable people

* Ansoni Lemans *

José Luis Chilavert José Luis Félix Chilavert González (; born 27 July 1965) is a Paraguayan former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Sportivo Luqueño, Guaraní, San Lorenzo de Almagro, Real Zaragoza, Vélez Sarsfield, RC Strasbourg, ...

* Egni Eckert *

Raúl Vicente Amarilla Raul, Raúl and Raül are the Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan forms of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph. They are cognates of the French Raoul. Raul, Raúl or Raül may re ...

Pablo César Aguilar Pablo César Aguilar Benítez (born 2 April 1987) is a Paraguayan professional footballer who plays as a centre-back. From March to July 2017, Aguilar served a ten-match suspension after head-butting a referee. Club career Early career Aguil ...

* Osvaldo Martínez * Hilarión Osorio

References

{{Authority control Populated places in the Central Department Geography of Asunción