Parque de España

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Parque de España, from the stairs of the Cultural Center.

The Parque de España (Park of Spain) is an urbanistic complex in Rosario, Argentina. It comprises the park itself and a cultural center, with a total surface area of 10,000 m², located near the historical center of the city, on the coast of the Paraná River.

The park is an ample expanse that follows the shoreline of the Paraná, with grass and trees as well as paved paths for pedestrians, and a large parking lot. The cultural center, on the north of the complex, was in part projected by the Catalan urbanist Oriol Bohigas, and includes a 500-seat theater, 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 several 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 also 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 1993-05-25. 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.

[edit] History

The Spanish government funded the initiative to build a cultural center on lands granted by the Municipality of Rosario as part of the celebrations for the 500th anniversary of the first European landing in the Americas. The complex was inaugurated in November 1992.

The Cultural Center.

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

The cultural center hosted some events of the Third International Congress of the Spanish Language, which took place in Rosario in November 2004.

[edit] The 2005 collapse

On 2005-03-13, at 12:30 noon, about 500 m² of the central section of the park (a 50-meter-long strip of the concrete-based, cobblestone-paved pedestrian path) suddenly 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, as concern spread regarding their safety. President Néstor Kirchner promised to deliver 30 million pesos (about 10 million USD) of national funds for repairs, but the money (as of March 2006) has never arrived.