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

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

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, Argentina, on the western shore of the

Paraná River The Paraná River ( ; ; ) is a river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina for some ."Parana River". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. ...

, from

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

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

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, 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 Roman province, prov ...

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, 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 call themselves ''Federalists''. History Europe federation In Europe, proponents of deep ...

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, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

Assembly sponsored by

Justo José de Urquiza Justo José de Urquiza y García (; October 18, 1801 – April 11, 1870) was an Argentine general and politician who served as president of the Argentine Confederation from 1854 to 1860. Life Justo José de Urquiza y García was bor ...

, 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 Greater Rosario is the metropolitan area of the city of Rosario, in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. This metropolis has a population of about 1.3 million (1,455,668 million inhabitants) thus being Argentina's third most populated urban s ...

La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires province, Argentina. According to the 2022 Argentina census, census, the La Plata Partido, Partido has a population of 772,618 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 938,287 inhabit ...

. Its limits are: to the west,

Pergamino Pergamino () is an Argentine city in the Buenos Aires Province, Province of Buenos Aires. It has a population of about 104,985 inhabitants as per the and is the administrative seat of its county, Pergamino Partido. Its UN/LOCODE is ARPGO. Histor ...

; 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 em ...

, 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 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 people

*Footballer Gustavo Pedro Echaniz *Health Minister

Ginés González García Ginés González García (31 August 1945 – 18 October 2024) was an Argentine politician and physician who served twice as the country's Ministry of Health (Argentina), Minister of Health under the successive presidencies of Eduardo Duhalde an ...

br>
*Journalist and short story writer Manuel Peyrou (1902–1974

*Revolutionary and guerrilla leader Enrique Gorriarán Merlo (1942–2006) *Football legend Omar Sivori *Former football players Héctor Baley, Leo Franco,

Patricio Hernández Patricio Hernández (born 16 August 1956) is an Argentina, Argentine Association football, football coach and former player. Hernández started his career in 1974 at Estudiantes de La Plata, a club that he would later manage. He soon earned a r ...

, Rubén Pagnanini, Andrés Guglielminpietro,

Nelson Vivas Nelson David Vivas (born 18 October 1969) is an Argentine former professional association football, footballer and manager who played as a Defender (association football)#Full-back, right-back. Vivas played for clubs Quilmes Atlético Club, Quil ...

and Bruno Marioni

Notes and references

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