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In 1880 the creation of the Buenos Aires capital was decided, after the city of Buenos Aires was declared capital of the Republic. The then governor, Dardo Rocha, was in charge of carrying out this work. Studies were conducted on the site of its siting. From the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Belgrano to more remote places, such as Chascomús and Dolores to the south and San Nicolás to the north. On April 27 of that year, the municipality of La Ensenada was chosen as the ideal site, entrusting the provincial government with the founding of La Plata, a name that tradition attributes to the author of Martín Fierro, José Hernández.



A team of urban planners led by the engineer Pedro Benoit, was in charge of designing the city, calling for an international competition for the projects of the most important public buildings. La Plata is recognized for its quadrangular layout, for its diagonals, its forest and for its squares, placed exactly on the checkerboard every six blocks. The cornerstone was placed on November 19, 1882, during the first presidency of Julio Argentino Roca, in what would be its geographical center, the current Plaza Moreno, later guarded by the beautiful municipal palace and the imposing Gothic cathedral, reddish as it is of bricks, turned into one of the symbols of La Plata. Rocha's speech synthesized the history that led to its creation and the hope placed on its future: «We have given the new capital the name of the magnificent river that bathes it, and we deposited under this stone, hoping that here they will be buried forever, the rivalries, hatreds, resentments, and all the passions that have delayed the prosperity of our country for so long.







Argentine city, founded by Dardo Rocha on November 19, 1882, to replace as capital of the province of Buenos Aires the city of Buenos Aires, which became Federal Capital of the country. It is also the party (department) with the same name.







La Plata, city of science and culture La Plata is home to three universities: National Technological University (UTN), National University of La Plata (UNLP) and Catholic University of La Plata (UCALP), it also has important tertiary, secondary and primary establishments .



The National University of La Plata is one of the three most important centers for scientific research and intellectual production in the country. The UNLP has fifteen faculties: Architecture and Urbanism; Fine arts; Agricultural and Forest Sciences; Astronomical and Geophysical Sciences; Economic Sciences; Exact Sciences; Legal and Social Sciences; Medical Sciences; Natural Sciences and Museum; Veterinary Sciences; Humanities and Education Sciences; Computing; Engineering; Odontology; Journalism and Social Communication. To them is added the Higher School of Social Work. Its rectory is located on calle 7 between 47 and 48 in a building designed at the beginning of the century by the architects Luis Viglione and Juan Buschizzo, as the headquarters of the local branch of the Banco Hipotecario Nacional. But when in 1905 the then Minister of Justice and Public Instruction of the Nation, Joaquín V. González, nationalized the until then Provincial University, it occupied the sober building of ornaments from the French Renaissance. The Museum of Natural Sciences, the Astronomical Observatory, the Rafael Hernández National School, the Víctor Mercante High School, the Fine Arts Baccalaureate and the Joaquín V. González Graduate School depend on the UNLP.



The National Technological University has two characteristics that distinguish it from the rest of the national university system. UTN is the only university in the country whose academic structure has engineering as a priority objective. The institution has numerous research groups and services in different areas of engineering.



Finally, La Plata has other educational establishments, prestigious public and private schools such as Albert Thomas, Monseñor Lodigiani Technical and Commercial Educational Complex, Comercial San Martín, Normal 1, Normal 2 and Normal 3, San Luis, San José, Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, Nuestra Señora de la Misericordia, Eucharistic, Immaculate Conception, schools 1, 10 and 19. At the tertiary level, the Juan Terrero and Guido De Andreis institutes and the School of Health stand out.



Going through this space you will access the architectural and urban data of our city. La Plata is a paradigm of advanced urban planning from the 19th century. It is also an example of hygienism (today environmentalism) that was beginning to gain importance at that time. Because it is a city projected before it was built, with tributary thoughts of rationalism triumphant with the French Revolution, it can be affirmed that it is the first built in the world according to republican ideas, in the midst of the consolidation of the industrial revolution, the consecration of the positivist science and the birth of the utopia of a more socially and ecologically harmonious life. Today it is a living testimony of the desire for freedom and progress that sealed the ideals of those times. From this place we present its architecture and urban planning with information on the most emblematic buildings of the city, the Cathedral, the Municipal Palace, the Legislature, the Government House, the Dardo Rocha Passage, the Museum of Natural Sciences, the Astronomical Observatory, the Train Station, the Argentine Theater and the Coliseo Podestá Theater.

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