San Nicolás de los Arroyos (usually shortened to ''San Nicolás'') is a city in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, Argentina, on the western shore of the

Paraná River The Paraná River ( es, Río Paraná, links=no , pt, Rio Paraná, gn, Ysyry Parana) is a river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina for some ."Parana River". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Br ...

, from

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central Argentine province of Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous city in the country, and is also the most p ...

. It has about 133,000 inhabitants (). It is the administrative seat of the '' partido'' of the same name. It is sometimes called ''Ciudad de María'' (City of Mary) due to a series of Marian apparitions that led to the erection of the Sanctuary in honor of

Our Lady of the Rosary of San Nicolás Our Lady of the Rosary of San Nicolás is, in Catholicism, a title of veneration of the Virgin Mary associated with a reported private revelation to Gladys Quiroga de Motta, a middle-aged housewife, beginning in the 1980s in the city of San Nicol ...

that began during the 1980s and were approved by Bishop Cardelli of the

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associ ...

as "worthy of belief" in 2016.

History

San Nicolás de los Arroyos was founded on 14 April 1748 by Rafael de Aguiar, who gave it its name to honour

Saint Nicholas of Bari Saint Nicholas of Myra, ; la, Sanctus Nicolaus (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (; modern-da ...

, now patron of the city. The closeness to the border between Buenos Aires and two other large provinces made the city a natural stage for the struggle between

federalist The term ''federalist'' describes several political beliefs around the world. It may also refer to the concept of parties, whose members or supporters called themselves ''Federalists''. History Europe federation In Europe, proponents of de ...

and Unitarians forces in mid-19th century. The agreement between thirteen provinces on 31 May 1852, which ratified the Federal Pact and called for a

Constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these prin ...

Assembly sponsored by Justo José de Urquiza, was signed in this town, and became known as '' Acuerdo de San Nicolás de los Arroyos''.

Geography

The city is located in the north-east of the province of Buenos Aires, 240 km from

City, within the so-called ''Industrial Corridor'' that goes from Greater Rosario to

La Plata 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 th ...

. Its limits are: to the west, Pergamino; to the south, Ramallo; to the east, with the Paraná River, which separates it from the province of Entre Ríos; and to the north, with the

Arroyo del Medio The Arroyo del Medio (Spanish, lit. "Middle Creek" or "Middle Stream") is a small river of Argentina, located on (and serving as) the border between the provinces of Buenos Aires and Santa Fe. Its catchment basin comprises about . The Arroyo empt ...

, a small river that separates it from the province of Santa Fe. Its main accesses are in the north–south axis: the Rosario-Buenos Aires Highway, and the

Nuevo Central Argentino Nuevo Central Argentino S. A. (abbreviated NCA) is an Argentine company that utilises the operation and infrastructure of the national railway system of the former Mitre Railway division of Ferrocarriles Argentinos, by a concession granted on 23 ...

railroad. San Nicolás has an important port on the Paraná, able to service large cargo ships. The railway system has passenger and cargo stations, the latter reaching up to the port.

Education

The city has 43 kindergarten institutions, 58 schools of Elementary Education, 28 of High-school level (both public and private), 26 schools for adults and a large number of tertiary studies institutes. It is also home of the San Nicolás Regional Faculty, a branch of the National Technological University (UTN)

Cultural life

There are a variety cultural institutions in the city, though the most important one is perhaps the Rafael de Aguiar Municipal Theatre, founded on August 10, 1908, and designed as a smaller model of the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Among the many libraries in the city, the oldest and largest is the Rafael de Aguiar Popular Library, founded in 1947 by Juana Couretot de Guella.

City sights

Notable natives

*Footballer Gustavo Pedro Echaniz *Health Minister Ginés González Garcíabr>
*Journalist and short story writer Manuel Peyrou (1902–1974

*Revolutionary and guerrilla leader Enrique Gorriarán Merlo (1942–2006) *Members of the folk music band '' Los Arroyeños'

*Designer and App Developer Andres Buzzio *Football legend Omar Sivori *Former football players Héctor Baley,

Leo Franco Leonardo "Leo" Neoren Franco (born 20 May 1977) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, and is a manager. After starting out at Independiente in 1995, he went on to spend the vast majority of his career in Sp ...

, Patricio Hernández, Rubén Pagnanini, Andrés Guglielminpietro, Nelson Vivas and

Bruno Marioni Bruno Marioni Giménez (born 15 June 1975, in Paraná) is a retired Argentine striker who preferred to attack from the sides. He is currently the manager of Liga de Expansión MX team Venados. Career Marioni made his debut under the last na ...

Notes and references

* This article draws material from the corresponding article in the Spanish Wikipedia.