The Parque de España is an urban complex in Rosario

Rosario

Rosario is the largest city in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the western shore of the Paraná River and has 1,159,004 residents as of the ....

, Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

. It comprises the park

Park

A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...

  and a cultural centre, with a total surface area of 10,000 m², located near the historical centre of the city, on the coast of the Paraná River

Paraná River

The Paraná River is a river in south Central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina for some . It is second in length only to the Amazon River among South American rivers. The name Paraná is an abbreviation of the phrase "para rehe onáva", which comes from the Tupi language...

.
The park follows the shoreline of the Paraná, with grass and trees, paved paths for pedestrians, and a large parking lot. The cultural centre, on the north of the complex, was in part projected by the Catalan

Catalonia

Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

 urbanist

Urbanism

Broadly, urbanism is a focus on cities and urban areas, their geography, economies, politics, social characteristics, as well as the effects on, and caused by, the built environment.-Philosophy:...

 Oriol Bohigas

Oriol Bohigas

Oriol Bohigas i Guardiola is a Catalan Spanish architect and urban planner. He is partner in the architecture office MBM.From 1980 until 1984 he has been the Director of Planning of the City of Barcelona....

, and includes a 500-seat theatre, a conference room, three art exhibition galleries and a video library. The south facade of the building of the cultural center is a set of outdoor stairs that climb meters from the lower level of the shore. The stairs themselves can seat up to 5,000 people for public shows performed in the park.

The complex includes a "partnership school," established by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science and directed by Spanish civil servants. The school is property of the Parque de España Complex Foundation since May 25, 1993. There are basic and advanced courses, with a triple orientation (Humanities, Science-Technology and Business). Students of the school gain the appropriate subject equivalences in the Spanish educational system.

History

The Spanish government

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 funded the initiative to build a cultural center on lands granted by the Municipality of Rosario

Government of Rosario

This article is about the government of Rosario, the third most populated city in Argentina, and the largest in the province of Santa Fe. Rosario has about 910,000 inhabitants and is located on the western shore of the Paraná River....

 as part of the celebrations for the 500th anniversary of the first European landing

Columbus Day

Many countries in the New World and elsewhere celebrate the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas, which occurred on October 12, 1492, as an official holiday...

 in the Americas

Americas

The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...

. The complex was inaugurated in November 1992 in the presence of Princess Cristina of Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

.

The complex was managed by a foundation formed by the Spanish government, the Municipality of Rosario and the Federation of Spanish Associations of the Province of Santa Fe

Santa Fe Province

The Invincible Province of Santa Fe, in Spanish Provincia Invencible de Santa Fe , is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco , Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Santiago del Estero...

. In 2002, by a new agreement, it was put in charge of the municipal government and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation.

The cultural centre hosted some events of the Third International Congress of the Spanish Language

Third International Congress of the Spanish Language

The Third International Congress of the Spanish Language was a cultural event that took place in Rosario, Argentina, on 17, 18 and 19 November 2004....

, which took place in Rosario in November 2004.

The 2005 collapse

On March 13, 2005, at 12:30 p.m., about 500 m² of the central section of the park (a 50-metre-long strip of the concrete-based, cobblestone-paved pedestrian path) collapsed into the ravine of the Paraná River. Four people fell into the river and received minor injuries. The municipality immediately closed off a large perimeter of the park, and three days later a judicial order shut off all the piers of the central part of Rosario's coastline.

President Néstor Kirchner

Néstor Kirchner

Néstor Carlos Kirchner was an Argentine politician who served as the 54th President of Argentina from 25 May 2003 until 10 December 2007. Previously, he was Governor of Santa Cruz Province since 10 December 1991. He briefly served as Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations ...

 promised to deliver 30 million peso

Argentine peso

The peso is the currency of Argentina, identified by the symbol $ preceding the amount in the same way as many countries using dollar currencies. It is subdivided into 100 centavos. Its ISO 4217 code is ARS...

s (about 10 million USD

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

) of national funds for repairs, but the grant was delayed for almost two years. On February 27, 2007, the government announced a call for bids for the reconstruction of the piers, with an updated budget of AR$40 million (US$13 million).