Rosario is the largest city in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It is located 300 km (187 miles) northwest of Buenos Aires, on the western shore of the Paraná River and has 945,000 residents as of the 2005 census [INDEC].
It has been the second most important city in Argentina since the end of the 19th century [1] because of the growing and important metropolitan area, a large urban department and for being the most important export centre in the country. It also retains the classical and ancient architecture in some residences, houses and public buildings. It is the third largest city in Argentina in terms of area and population.
Rosario is the head city of the Rosario Department and is located at the heart of the most important industrial corridor in Argentina. Its suburbs and several neighboring towns form the metropolitan area of Greater Rosario, with 1,180,883 inhabitants.
The city has several museums including: the Juan B. Castagnino Fine Arts Museum, the Firma y Odilo Estévez Municipal Decorative Art Museum, the Dr. Julio Marc Provincial Historical Museum, the City Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rosario (MACRo). The Dr. Ángel Gallardo Provincial Natural Sciences Museum was rebuilt after a fire in 2003 and re-opened in a new location in 2006. There is a plan to move the National Oriental Art Museum, which currently shares a building with the National Decorative Art Museum in Buenos Aires, to Rosario.
Rosario has a public astronomy complex, located within Urquiza Park, consisting on an observatory (inaugurated in 1970) and a planetarium (1984).
Rosario has a number of public health centers: 5 municipal hospitals (including a children's hospital and an emergency hospital/trauma center) and a municipal outpatient-only center, plus 2 large provincial hospitals (Hospital Provincial and Hospital Centenario), and their associated primary care centers in the city proper and its metropolitan area.
The Rosario Board of Trade hosts the country's largest commodity market, dealing in cereals and oilseeds, and also the largest futures exchange (ROFEX). The banking sector includes the state-owned Municipal Bank of Rosario, with branches and offices throughout the city, and the central branch of the New Bank of Santa Fe.
The Fundación Italia is a cultural institution whose importance has been growing since its creation in 1985. Created by people who boast a "cultural bond with Italy" it has organized a Neapolitan music concert, the play of Madame Butterfly and numerous talks about the present and future of Argentina. Among the people invited to give these talks were economists Domingo Cavallo and Alfonso Prat Gay, renown scholars Beatriz Sarlo and Silvia Bleichmar, journalists Alejandro Rozitchner and Jorge Asís, filmmaker Fernando Solanas and the former presidents of Chile -Ricardo Lagos-, Argentina -Eduardo Duhalde-, and Uruguay -Luis Alberto Lacalle Herrera.