La Plata, Argentina

La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. According to the , it has a population of 654,324 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 787,294 inhabitants. It is located 9 kilometers (6 miles) inland from the southern shore of the Río de la Plata estuary.

La Plata was planned and developed to serve as the provincial capital after the city of Buenos Aires was federalized in 1880. It was officially founded by Governor Dardo Rocha on 19 November 1882. Its construction is fully documented in photographs by Tomás Bradley Sutton. La Plata was briefly known as ''Ciudad Eva Perón'' (Eva Perón City) between 1952 and 1955.

The city is home to two important first division football teams: Estudiantes de La Plata and Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata.

History and description

After La Plata was designated the provincial capital, Rocha was placed in charge of creating the city. He hired urban planner Pedro Benoit, who designed a city layout based on a rationalist conception of urban centers. The city has the shape of a square with a central park and two main diagonal avenues, north to south and east to west. In addition, there are numerous other shorter diagonal streets. This design is copied in a self-similar manner in small blocks of six by six blocks in length. For every six blocks, there is a small park or square. Other than the diagonal streets, all streets are on a rectangular grid and are numbered consecutively. Thus, La Plata is nicknamed "la ciudad de las diagonales" (city of diagonals). It is also called "la ciudad de los tilos" (city of linden trees), because of the large number of linden trees lining the many streets and squares. The linden tree is one of a number of deciduous Northern Hemisphere tree species which dominate La Plata's parks and streets; ash, horsechestnut, plane, sweetgum and tulip tree are among the other examples. Palms and subtropical broadleaf evergreen trees thrive but are comparatively infrequent.

The city design and its buildings are noted to possess strong Freemason symbolism as a consequence of both Rocha and Benoit being Freemasons.

The designs for the government buildings were chosen in an international architectural competition. Thus, the Governor Palace was designed by Italians, the City Hall by Germans, etc. Electric street lighting was installed in 1884 and was the first of its kind in Latin America.

Important landmarks

The neo-Gothic cathedral of La Plata is the largest church in Argentina. It is located on the central park, Plaza Moreno, and is the 58th tallest church in the world.

The Teatro Argentino de La Plata is one of the most important opera houses in Argentina, second to the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. The construction was funded by the first inhabitants of La Plata, but as maintenance was very expensive it was later donated to the Province of Buenos Aires. On 18 October 1977 the building was almost completely destroyed by a fire. This has been noted as one of the largest losses to La Plata's historical heritage. It was later replaced by a new building, which houses the theatre's orchestra, choir and ballet, boasting several halls.

The Curutchet House is one of the two buildings by Le Corbusier built in the Americas.

The University of La Plata was founded in 1897 and nationalized in 1905. It is well known for its observatory and natural history museum. Ernesto Sabato graduated in Physics at this university; he went on to teach at the Sorbonne and the MIT before becoming a famed novelist. Doctor René Favaloro was another famous alumnus. During its early years, the university attracted a number of renowned intellectuals from the Spanish-speaking world, such as Dominican Pedro Henríquez Ureña.

is on the corner of 48th and 5th Streets. It was the first chapel in La Plata and Pedro Benoit himself drew up the plans for the church. It was inaugurated on 19 November 1883, the first anniversary of the foundation of the city. Its neo-Gothic style has been well kept, and the inner paintings are now being restored. Then-governor Rocha was the one to name it "San Ponciano". This was both in memory of his son Ponciano and in honor of pope St. Ponciano. Inside the church is the "Virgen de Luján" niche, which was moved here in 1904.

La Plata in the 20th century

Under Alvear's administration (1922–1928), Enrique Mosconi, the president of the state oil company '' Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales'', created the La Plata distillery, at the time the tenth largest in the world. Felipe Pigna, ''Los Mitos de la historia argentina, 3'', ed. Planeta Historia y Sociedad 2006, p. 153.

On 10 December 1945, in the Parish church of St. Francis of Assisi in this city, Juan Domingo Perón and Eva Duarte were married.

In 1952 the city was renamed Ciudad Eva Perón, though its original name was restored in 1955.

In March 1976 the Argentine military seized power following a coup d'état, which involved the disappearing of a number of students from La Plata. The military junta had implemented what was called the National Reorganization Process which was a set of policies used by the regime to destroy left-wing guerrilla forces and oppress resistance to its rule. The process included kidnappings, torture and murder. Meanwhile, the Montoneros, a leftist guerilla group, responded violently to the junta and its actions as they enlisted other Argentines to join their campaign against the regime. Those enlisted included young, left-wing, politically active students from the organization named the ''Unión de Estudiantes Secundarios'' (Union of High School Students) of La Plata. The UES was committed to achieving school reforms and other political reforms through demonstrations and protests that irked the ruling regime. Many of these students were kidnapped and killed as part of this conflict.

In October 1998, UNESCO approved the city's bid to gain recognition as a World Heritage site. The approval is still pending due to various objections to the criterion of maintaining architectural and landscape features during recent decades, which in the opinion of other specialists, has caused severe damage to the original design and contextual aesthetics.

Sports and stadiums

The Estadio Ciudad de La Plata, also known as the "Estadio Único", opened on 7 June 2003, as one of the most modern football stadiums in Latin America. Various other construction and renovation projects have continued, including the addition of a roof structure. Estudiantes has become a permanent tenant of the new stadium while their own stadium is being modernized; Gimnasia La Plata has only played occasional home games in this stadium. In 2011, the Estadio Ciudad de La Plata was one of the host sites for the 2011 Copa America including an opening-round match between Argentina and Bolivia, a semifinal game, and the third-place final. Now, the stadium is additionally used for concerts and Puma matches.

During 2009, following a series of agreements between the city municipality, the governor of the province and the nation's presidency, progress was made in the final transfer of the land of the Paseo del Bosque to Estudiantes and Gimnasia La Plata clubs. On 24 June 2009, the Deliberative Council adopted the convention and the ordinance for which Gimnasia and Estudiantes clubs received "grants" for the lands on which their home grounds are currently located within El Bosque (The Forest).

Elections and civic advances

On 28 October 2007, Pablo Bruera was elected mayor with 26% of the votes, replacing Julio Alak, who had been mayor since 1991.

On 25 February 2009, La Plata debuted a parking system that uses text messaging (SMS), thus becoming the first city in Argentina to use technology applications to control parking.

Pasaje Rodrigo A traditional "galería" (the older version of shopping malls in Argentina), which had been opened in 1929 by Spanish immigrant Basilio Rodrigo and had been closed to the public for 10 years, reopened its doors in April 2009 as Pasaje Rodrigo shopping mall.

On 25 October 2015, Julio Garro was elected mayor with 41,35% of the votes, replacing Pablo Bruera, who had been mayor since 2007.

Geography

Location

Located in the north-eastern area of the province of Buenos Aires, La Plata is surrounded by Ensenada and Berisso to the northeast, Berazategui and Florencio Varela to the northwest, San Vicente and Coronel Brandsen to the southwest and south, and Magdalena, to the southeast, occupying an area of 893 km².

The metropolitan area of La Plata includes the neighborhoods of Tolosa, Ringuelet, Manuel B. Gonnet, City Bell, Villa Elisa, Melchor Romero, Abasto, Gorina, José Hernández, Ángel Etcheverry, Arturo Seguí, Los Hornos, Lisandro Olmos, Villa Elvira and Altos de San Lorenzo, all of which have community centers that operate as local delegations.

Climate

La Plata has a humid subtropical climate (''Cfa'' under the Köppen climate classification). During winter, temperatures are cool during the day and cold during the night, even reaching below freezing. The average temperature in the coldest month, July, is . Winters tend to be cloudier than summer, averaging around 10 overcast days from June to August, compared to 6 overcast days from December to February. Summers are warm to hot with a January high of while nighttime temperatures are cooler, averaging . Spring and fall are transition seasons, featuring warm daytime temperatures and cool nighttime temperatures, highly variable with some days reaching above and below . The city is fairly humid, owing to its coastal location, having an average monthly humidity higher than 75%. La Plata receives of precipitation annually, with winters being the drier months and summer the wetter months. On average, La Plata receives 2,285 hours of sunshine a year, or 51% of possible sunshine, ranging from a low of 41% in June and July to 62% in February. The highest temperature recorded was on 18 December 1995 while the lowest temperature recorded was on 14 June 1967.

Snowfall is extremely rare in the city with only 5 major snowfall events: July 1912, 1928, 22 June 1981, 9 July 2007 during the July 2007 Argentine winter storm, and on 6 June 2012.

Earthquakes

The region lies on the Punta del Este fault, and its latest event occurred on 30 November 2018 at 10:27 UTC−3 with a magnitude of 3.8 on the Richter scale. This earthquake was totally unusual in La Plata, a city where the last earthquake had been on 5 June 1888 (128 years before) with a magnitude of 5.5 on the Richter scale.

Government

Given the federal system of government in Argentina there are three orders or ranks: the National, Provincial and Municipal.

Power of the executive branch in La Plata is exercised by the municipal mayor, elected by popular vote every four years with the possibility of unlimited reelection. The town hall is known as the Palacio Municipal, and is located in the block surrounded by streets 51, 53, 11 and 12, in the city center. It is one of the important buildings that surround Plaza Moreno, and is opposite the cathedral.

The city government is divided into different areas. These are: Private Secretary, Secretary General, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Public Management, Social Development Secretariat, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Modernization and Economic Development, Ministry of Justice, Secretary of Health and Social Medicine, Chief of Staff, Regional Market La Plata, Management Consortium Puerto La Plata, Executive Unit Revenue Agency, Environment Agency Implementation Unit, Human Rights Department, Ministry of Government, Policy Planning Council, Regional Production and Employment, and the city council.

As it is the capital of the Province of Buenos Aires, La Plata is also home to the three provincial powers: the provincial executive (led at the moment by the Governor) along with its ministries, the judiciary, and the provincial Legislature.

Economy

According to the National Economic Survey 2004–2005, out of a total of 23,844 local listings 90% are dedicated to the production of goods and services, 4% belonged to the Civil Service, 2% are for semi sideshows or removable; 1% are for worship, political parties and unions, and the remaining 2% was in the process of classification.

Finance

La Plata has a Stock Market
Bolsa de Comercio
founded in 1960, a member of the Argentine stock market system.

In the city there are branches of major banks operating in the country, including Banco Nación, Banco Provincia, Banco Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Banco Hipotecario, HSBC, Citigroup, Banco Itaú, Francés, Macro, Standard Bank, etc.

Transport

''Trenes Argentinos'' operate a rail service ( Roca Line) between La Plata and Constitución station in Buenos Aires via Berazategui. It runs every 24 to 30 minutes Mondays to Saturdays and every 40 minutes on Sundays. In addition, there is a shuttle service '' Tren Universitario'' between La Plata station and Policlínico operating five to eight times a day.

The city's air transportation needs are served by La Plata Airport.

Population

The greater metropolitan area, according to the National Census of Population and Housing 2010, has a population of 787,294 inhabitants.

Furthermore, the La Plata urban area's population since 1960 was developed as follows:
* 1960 Census: 337,060 inhabitants.
* 1970 Census: 391,247 inhabitants.
* 1980 Census: 459,054 inhabitants.
* 1991 Census: 521,759 inhabitants.
* 2001 Census: 763,943 inhabitants.
* 2010 Census: 799,523 inhabitants.

International communities

The Spanish community's contributions include the renowned Spanish Hospital. Spain has also acknowledged the community by installing a consulate in the city of La Plata.

The Arab community also has several institutions, including the Syriac Orthodox Welfare Assoc, Assoc Islamic Argentino de La Plata, and the Lebanese Society of La Plata.

The Jewish community of La Plata has numerous institutions. These include AMIA La Plata (Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina), which has under its orbit Hebrew School Chaim Nachman Bialik and the Jewish cemetery of the city, the Beit Chabad La Plata, part of Chabad Lubavitch Argentina.

Education

La Plata hosts one of the most renowned universities in Argentina, the National University of La Plata (Spanish: Universidad Nacional de La Plata, UNLP).
It has over 75,000 regular students, 8,000 teaching staff, 16 faculties and 106 available degrees.

UNLP students and professors include:
*Raúl Alfonsín (Law degree in 1950) President of Argentina (1983–1989)
*Néstor Kirchner (Law degree) President of Argentina (2003–2007)
*Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (Law degree) President of Argentina (terms 2007–2011, 2011–2015)
* René Favaloro (Medicine degree in 1949, creator of the technique for coronary bypass surgery)
* Carlos Saavedra Lamas (Law teacher, rector and Nobel Peace Prize)
*Ernesto Sabato (Physics PhD in 1937)
*Mario Bunge (Physics-Mathematics PhD in 1952)
*Florentino Ameghino (Professor of geology)
*Juan José Arévalo (Philosophy PhD in 1934, 24th President of Guatemala)
*Emilio Pettoruti (painter)
* Pedro Henríquez Ureña (Dominican essayist, philosopher, humanist, philologist and literary critic)

Four high school institutes are under UNLP control and three of them are located in La Plata:
* Rafael Hernández National High School (Spanish: ''Colegio Nacional Rafael Hernández'')
* Víctor Mercante Lyceum (Spanish: ''Liceo Víctor Mercante'')
* Fine Arts High School (Spanish: ''Bachillerato de Bellas Artes'')

La Plata is also home of four other universities:
* '' Universidad Católica de La Plata''
* '' Universidad Notarial Argentina''
* '' Facultad Regional de la Universidad Tecnológica Nacional''.
* '' Universidad del Este - La Plata''

Students come to these four universities from every part of Argentina and other countries, giving the city a rich young multicultural lifestyle.

There is also an international school for translators, '' Traductorado''.

Architecture and the composition of the city

La Plata is a planned city, characterized by a strict grid crossed with diagonal avenues. The two major diagonals, 73 and 74, cross the city from east to west and from north to south, respectively. They converge in Plaza Moreno at the center of the city. This square houses the foundation stone and is the main square of the city. To either side are the City Hall and cathedral of La Plata. Highlights of the city are the Museum of Natural Sciences, the building of the Interior, the Provincial Legislature, the new theater and the hippodrome. Many of these buildings were built at the time of the founding of the city, following an international call for proposals.

Another work is the parent company of ''Banco de la Provincia de Buenos Aires'', located between the streets 6, 7, 46 and 47. This building was designed by architects Juan A. Buschiazzo and Luis Viglione. It opened on 19 April 1886, being amended in 1913 and in the 1970s.

It is a very green city, with its largest park being the "''Paseo del Bosque''" (or simply 'the forest'). Twenty-two other parks and squares contain much of the city's trees and greenery. Other landmarks include the lake, the Martin Fierro amphitheater, the Parque Pereyra Iraola, the Zoo and Botanical Garden, the Victorian astronomical observatory, and the Natural History Museum. One notable attraction is the Children's Republic, which is said to have inspired Walt Disney to build Disneyland after he visited it during a trip to Argentina.

In 1977 the city lost one of its most valuable monuments to a fire: the Teatro Argentino de La Plata, predominantly built in a neoclassic style. After the fire, a new brutalist style theater was built in its place. The city also has the Estadio Ciudad de La Plata, a stadium influenced by modern High-tech architecture, planned and built after a national competition during the 1970s. It was amended in a subsequent project to expand capacity and include a roof. The construction of a semitransaparent deck of kevlar and plastic resins was finished in January 2011.

La Plata has one commercial airport, Aeropuerto de La Plata, which is not served by any airlines.

Awards received by the city

The city was awarded at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1889, an event in which the new city was given the two gold medals awarded in the categories "City of the Future" and "Better performance built."

La Plata Cemetery

The municipal cemetery of La Plata was established in 1886 for the new capital of the province of Buenos Aires. It was designed by Pedro Benoit. It lies on the intersection of Avenue 31, 72 and diagonal 74 in the southern tip. It has some remarkable architectural features, both in its main entrance and in many of the family vaults, including neoclassical, Neo-Gothic, Art Nouveau (in its variant of Catalan Art Nouveau), Art Deco and Egyptian revival styles. The main entrance is an impressive neo-classical portico with Doric columns. The Catholic chapel, in Romanesque revival style, was finished in 1950.

Its annex, the Jewish Cemetery, belongs to the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina in La Plata and is located on Avenue 72.

Sports

The main soccer clubs in the city are Estudiantes de La Plata (known as "pinchas") and Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata, both of which currently play in the Argentine Primera Division. Estudiantes is the sole team within the city to win a national or international title. La Plata has Liga Amateur Platense de fútbol that encompasses various clubs in the region, such as Club Atlético Estrella de Berisso, La Plata FC, Asociación Nueva Alianza, and Club Everton.

Basketball has a place in the Torneo Nacional de Ascenso (National Ascent Tournament), through Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata. In addition, through the Asociación Platense de Basquetbol, La Plata has leagues and tournaments for all levels and categories, including Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata, Estudiantes, Centro Fomento de Los Hornos Club Atenas, Unión Vecinal, Centro de Fomento Meridiano V, and Club Cultural y Deportivo Juventud.

Auto racing also has its importance in the city in the form of the Turismo Carretera. There is also a race track named Autódromo Roberto José Mouras in honor of the historic Chevrolet driver died in Lobos in 1992. Gastón Mazzacane is from the city as well. After 21 races in Formula 1, he also competed in the Champ Car and Top Race V6 series.

Culture

Culture has a major role in the city of La Plata. This is reflected in the large amount of cultural centers, theaters, museums, cinemas and libraries that are in the city, as well as the Universidad Nacional de La Plata and the observatory.

*Cultural centers: Centro Cultural Pasaje Dardo Rocha, Centro Cultural Islas Malvinas, Centro Cultural Estación Provincial, Centro Cultural Viejo Almacén El Obrero, Centro de Cultura & Comunicación, Centro Cultural El Núcleo, Centro Actividades Artísticas CRISOLES, Centro Cultural Los Hornos, Centro Cultural y Social El Galpón de Tolosa.
*Theaters: Teatro Argentino de La Plata, Teatro Municipal Coliseo Podestá, Anfiteatro Martín Fierro, Teatro La Nonna, Teatro La Hermandad del Princesa, Sala 420, Taller de Teatro de la UNLP, Complejo El Teatro, Teatro La Lechuza.
*Museums: Museo de Ciencias Naturales, , Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes, Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes, Museo de Arte Fra. Angélico, Museo de Instrumentos Musicales Colección Dr. Emilio Azzarini, Museo Histórico del Fuerte de la Ensenada de Barragán, Museo y Archivo Dardo Rocha, Museo Almafuerte, Museo del Teatro Argentino, Museo José Juan Podestá, Museo de la Catedral, Museo Indigenista Yana Kúntur, Museo Internacional de Muñecos, Museo del Automóvil Colección Rau, Museo del Tango Platense, Museo Policial Inspector Mayor Vesiroglos, Museo Histórico Contralmirante Chalier (Escuela Naval de Río Santiago), Museo Histórico Militar Tte. Julio A. Roca, Museo de Anatomía Veterinaria Dr. Víctor M. Arroyo, Museo de Artesanía Tradicional Juan Alfonso Carrizo, Museo de Astronomía y Geofísica, Museo de Botánica y Farmacognosia Dr. Carlos Spegazzini, Museo y Casa de Descanso Samay Huasi, Museo de Física, Museo de Historia de la Medicina Dr. Santiago Gorostiague, Museo Biblioteca de Química y Farmacia Prof. Dr. Carlos Sagastume, Museo de Odontología, Museo de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales Prof. Julio Ocampo.
*Libraries: Biblioteca Central General José de San Martín, Biblioteca Municipal Francisco López Merino, Biblioteca de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Biblioteca de la Legislatura de la Provincia.
*Cinemas: Cinema San Martín, Cinema 8, Cinema City, Cinema Paradiso, Cinema Rocha, Cine Select, Espacio INCAA km. 60.

There were big personalities in the cultural sphere from the city: Paula Almerares (opera singer, soprano); Dante Anzolini (conductor); Efraín U. Bischoff (historian), José Walter Gavito (sculptor), Osvaldo Golijov (classical composer), Robert Noble (journalist and socialist politician, founder and first editor of the newspaper Clarín), Emilio Pettoruti (painter), Ernesto Tenenbaum (Reporter), María Dhialma Tiberti (writer), Iñaki Urlezaga (classical dancer), Álvaro Yunque (writer), Jorge and Federico D'Elia (actors); Adabel Guerrero (dancer, actress), Alejo García Pintos

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