---

Governor Juan Manuel de Rosas ordered the construction of a fort in the area to contain the advance of the malones. To carry out this order, Colonel of Militias Pedro Burgos left from the ranch ´´Los Milagros´´, Chascomús party and on December 16, 1832 he founded the old fort of San Serapio Mártir del Arroyo Azul. It was declared a city in 1895. The colonization of these lands was done through land donations by the provincial government decreed in 1829 and carried out in 1832. The procedure was similar to that carried out in Chacarita, San Andrés de Giles, San Miguel del Monte and Luján. They had a series of requirements in terms of settlement and defense of the border. This transfer of public lands to individuals originated some conflicts, it was done in exchange for the usufruct of the same and with property title. Some were delivered under the emphytheusis system (in the 1820s) and others, to a lesser extent, on lease (in the 1850s). The second system began to be implemented in 1857. The amount of land granted in emphyteusis was 377,981.1 has carried out through thirteen operations and the leased was 43,497 has made in three operations, of which one was a renovation of land that it was already adjudicated in emphytheusis. Four of the thirteen emphytheus transfers were canceled because they occupied all of the donated land. In 1836 the state sold seven plots of land to individuals. In 1887 the Mixed Normal School was created, which in 1910 had 385 students.



Between 1900 and 1916 the municipality was intervened by a commissioner for various political and electoral problems that caused the annulment of the different elections held in 1900, 1906. The first was annulled by the justice and the other because the opponents did not recognize the triumph of his rival and took the municipality by force, constituted a ´´parallel municipality´´ achieving a new intervention. Finally, in 1916, Angel Pintos was elected mayor.



Averaging the second decade of the twentieth century, it was a prosperous population, it had 32,000 inhabitants (between the city and the rest of the party). It had developed its industries, leather, meat, beer, soap and candle manufacturing, it had a bank formed by local capitals (Banco Industrial de Azul, now Banco Industrial).



On January 19, 1974, during the presidency of Juan Domingo Perón, the People's Revolutionary Army tried to take by force the garrison of the Argentine Army located in this city. To carry out this fact, they previously took by force a house on the RP 51, this place had the necessary characteristics to hide people and vehicles. The objective is supposed to have been to steal weapons and ammunition for the guerrilla group. Three troops died in this action, one was taken hostage but was later executed.



In 1986, the Pan American Health Organization developed an experiment in this city through the Pan American Zoonoses Center of Argentina (CEPANZO) and the Wistar Institute of Philadelphia. He had the objective of testing a genetically modified recombinant active virus vaccine, which was called vaccinia-rabies. This virus was an exotic agent with a potential danger and even so they did not notify the Argentine health authorities. Twenty dairy cows were inoculated with this vaccine and as many with another virus called vaccinia. Four rural laborers participated in the experiment without knowing it. An Argentine investigator concerned about the possible consequences made the complaint and the government launched an investigation. The experiment was immediately suspended, sanitary protection was provided to the four laborers involved, and the animals were sacrificed for research and study.



Azul is a city in the center-east of the province of Buenos Aires in the Argentine Republic, head of the Azul party. It is located 299 kilometers southwest of Buenos Aires. It limits with the parties of Tandil, Rauch, Olavarría, Tapalqué, Benito Juárez, and Las Flores. It is the geographical center of the province. Its road network serves as a connection with different parts of the country. The climate is mild and humid. Cereals are grown and cattle are raised.



It was founded as a fort by Colonel Burgos fulfilling an order from Rosas to stop the advance of the malones. It was declared a city in 1895. Today it has twenty-nine neighborhoods. In 1974 a guerrilla group tried to storm the local army barracks and in 1986 a World Health Organization experiment with cows ended in scandal.



Among the places of interest are the Spanish Theater and the important collection of works by Cervantes that houses the Casa Ronco, which earned it the title of Cervantes City.



The city is the seat of one of the judicial departments of the province of Buenos Aires, of the Diocese and of two faculties of Unicen. It has a newspaper, an AM radio, several FM and the cable service provided by Cablevisión.



In Azul are the Spanish Theater, the Municipal Park ´´Domingo F. Sarmiento´´, the Municipal Spa ´´Alte. Guillermo Brown´´, the waterfront ´´Cacique Catriel´´, Lake Güemes, the promenade ´´Boca de las Sierras´´, the Municipal Camping, and there are several works designed by Eng. Francisco Salamone.



The Casa Ronco houses the largest collection of Cervantes outside of Spain, which earned the city the title of Cervantes City imposed by the UNESCO Castilla-La Mancha center.

Spanish theater





Also the Teatro Español de Azul, the oldest theater in the Argentine Republic. This neoclassical architectural work, which is exposed in the horseshoe shape of the theater. It is a Historical monument of the Province of Buenos Aires since 1988.



It was inaugurated by the Spanish Society for Mutual Aid in 1897 and from then until the mid-1950s it experienced a period of splendor marked by the presence on its stage of great artists such as Blanca and Pablo Podestá, Carlos Gardel, Agustín Magaldi and Tita Merello , among others.



In 1978 a group of neighbors, together with the Municipality of Azul, formed a commission that would be in charge, for more than two decades, of restoring and restoring the theater to its former shine. Thus, in 1992, with a building restored to new, the theater revived in Azul, with great shows such as the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow, the Children of Vienna, Julio Bocca, Eleonora Cassano, Maximiliano Guerra and Alfredo Alcón, among other artists.

Municipal Park ´´Domingo F. Sarmiento´´



It is a walk located on the banks of the Azul stream, with 22 hectares of extension designed by the landscaper Carlos Thays. It is a unique setting in which water predominates as a decorative element and the care of nature, enriching the landscape with cultural elements.

Municipal Spa ´´Alte. Guillermo Brown´´



Formerly, the sector that the promenade occupies today was an obligatory passage for cattle and carts. In 1886 the Municipality enabled the so-called ´´Swimming Baths´´ in this sector of the Azul stream, which were the announcement of our current spa, which constitutes a magnificent walk with a 6-hectare mirror of water, and sectors landscaped where you can enjoy nature during the day and its astronomical offer and its pubs at night.

Coastal ´´Cacique Catriel´´



This riverside walk follows the course of the Azul stream, the one that served as the natural perimeter of Fort San Serapio Mártir, as it advances from Parque Sarmiento to Lake Güemes, it crosses the main urban area of ​​the city, being a route in which the harmony of green and water stands out.



It has on the left bank of the stream a historical mural of the city made in 2008 during the II Cervantino Festival. It is the work of the artist Omar Gasparini. You can see historical characters, stories, historical moments, anecdotes, architectural landscapes and urban legends.

The Güemes Lake



The lake was artificially dredged by exploiting an area of ​​marked depression in the land, it constitutes a sanctuary for the propagation of several fish species, among which the silverside stands out. In its extreme southwest, there are the facilities of the Pisciculture Station, Aquarium and Lago Güemes Museum of regional integration.

Boca de las Sierras walk



The Sierras del Azul, belonging to the Tandilia System, are the first to break into the vast Pampean Plain.



As old as the first forms of life on the planet, this group crosses the district in a southwest-northwest direction, reaching its maximum beauty in Boca de las Sierras, a small valley formed by a brief interruption of the mountain range that gives place to extraordinarily beautiful landscapes.



On the margin of the RP 80, there is a panoramic place that becomes the ideal point to recreate with the surrounding nature, where peaks such as the La Crespa, La Armonía and Los Ángeles hills appear.

Municipal Camping



On Gobernador Bidegain Avenue, on the banks of the Azul stream, there is the campsite and the municipal hostel with 20 places each, a multipurpose room, a kitchen and two sanitary modules.



The space has a view of the stream. It is divided into two sectors: the main or traditional with stoves close to the services and the reserve, a rugged space with greater contact with nature.

Blue Cervantine City



The city has the most complete Cervantes collection outside of Spain, which is distinguished by including more than 300 old editions of ´´El Quijote´´, plates, illustrations, newspapers, magazines and sculptures alluding to one of the most read books in the world. [30] The collection can be consulted at the Casa Ronco, a museum located at 362 San Martín street esq. Rivadavía.



The UNESCO Castilla-La Mancha center issued decree 1/2007 by which it names the Cervantina City of Argentina for being the most complete collection exhibited in the museum outside of Spain. The distinction was promoted by the president of the entity, the Cervantes manchego Fernando Redondo Benito.



On the occasion of the declaration of ´´Cervantina City of Argentina´´ by Unesco, a sculpture was made by a renowned sculptor, Carlos Raggazoni. It consists of parts of cars, motorcycles, buses, beds, etc., which gives an important value to the sculpture. But it should be noted that it is not a single sculpture, but a set of them, in which Sancho Panza, Dulcinea, the dog and even the infallible Don Quixote de la Mancha can be found. It can be found at the intersection of avenues B. Miter and Catriel, a few meters from the Güemes neighborhood.

---