The Palace of Justice (''Palacio de Justicia'') is a former courthouse in Rosario, Santa Fe,

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. Juan Canals, an entrepreneur, commissioned the British architect Herbert Boyd Walker, who conceived and built the Palace of Justice in 1892. The building constitutes a singular example of the eclectic style common at the end of the century. It has a strong French and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

influence, which can be seen in its two internal galleries and patios, or in its many justice-related sculptures. Perhaps the most notable reference of the building is the tower, which has a

bell A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inte ...

and a giant

clock A clock or a timepiece is a device used to measure and indicate time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month and t ...

on its top. It was built on a plot donated partly by the Rosario City Hall and partly by Canals, who was looking forward to recovering his initial investment after 30 years of collecting rent. Before the construction, the place was occupied by the " Las Carretas" square. The project also included two more buildings: one of them is today an elementary school, while the other one is a detachment of the

provincial government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, ...

. In 1912, following Canals' bankruptcy, the property of the buildings was transferred to the provincial government. Since its creation and until 1960, the edifice was used by the city

courts of law A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...

. It was known as the "Palacio de Justicia". On 1960 the city courts of law had to move due to the needs of Rosario's growing population. Almost 50 years have passed since then; however, people still refer to the building as the "Ex-Palacio de Justicia". Shortly after the Courts of Law had moved, the building was used to house a new institution dedicated to the teaching of law and political sciences, as well as the "Gallardo" Natural History Museum on the upper floor. The institution later became the Law and Political Sciences school. In 1974, the Political Sciences school was given its own building, so all that remained was the Law School and the Natural History Museum. In 1997, by decree N° 262/97, the building was declared a National Historic Monument. In 2003, the building caught fire and its eastern wing was severely damaged. As a result, the Dr. Ángel Gallardo Provincial Natural Sciences Museum lost many of its collections, and had to move. Full restoration works began immediately after the fire and continue today. The building is expected to be fully restored and as of 2007, refurbishment works were 90% complete (including a substantial modernization of the facilities).Universia: Culmina la reconstrucción de Derecho en la UNR
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References

External links

UNR's Law school web site

UNR's web site
{{coord, 32, 56, 38, S, 60, 39, 04, W, source:eswiki_region:AR, display=title Government buildings completed in 1892 Buildings and structures in Rosario, Santa Fe National Historic Monuments of Argentina