Rosario has many cultural activities in many artistic disciplines with national and international reach. The city has produced important personalities in the fields of music, painting, philosophy, politics, poetry, literature, medicine, and law. Among the city's important theatres are El Círculo, Sala Lavardén, Broadway]], Astengo Auditorium, and La Comedia. A cultural complex known as Puerto de la Música, designed by the modernist architect Oscar Niemeyer (of Brasilia fame), is to be built along the banks of the Paraná River. If completed it will be one of the largest centers for musical performance in Latin America. In 2012, after years without progress, it was put on indefinite hold due to financial constraints.
The city has several museums, including: Juan B. Castagnino Fine Arts Museum, Firma y Odilo Estévez Municipal Decorative Art Museum, Dr. Julio Marc Provincial Historical Museum, City Museum, and 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 at a new location in 2006. Rosario also has a public astronomy complex, located in Urquiza Park, which consists of an observatory (inaugurated in 1970) and a planetarium(1984).
The Fundación Italia is a cultural institution created in 1985, as a "cultural bond with Italy". It has organized a Neapolitan music concert, performances 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, renowned scholarsBeatriz Sarlo and Silvia Bleichmar, journalists Alejandro Rozitchner and Jorge Asís, filmmaker Fernando Solanas and former presidents of Chile (Ricardo Lagos), Argentina (Eduardo Duhalde), and Uruguay (Luis Alberto Lacalle Herrera)
