Durazno is the capital city of the department of Durazno in

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

. Durazno is characterized by being the most central city of Uruguay. It has a population of more than 30,000 inhabitants. In the past it was the capital of Uruguay; today the capital is

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

Location

The city is located at the intersection of Routes 5 and 41, in the south of the department, close to the borders with the departments of

Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Including the Komodo Islands off its west coast (but excluding the Solor Archipelago to the east of Flores), the land area is 15,530.58 km2, and th ...

to the southwest and

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

to the southeast. It is only northeast of the city of

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

, capital of Flores department.

Geography

Durazno is situated on the south banks of the Yi River, a tributary to the Río Negro River.

Transportation

The

Santa Bernardina International Airport Santa Bernardina International Airport () is a military and general aviation airport serving Durazno, capital of the Durazno Department of Uruguay. The facilities are shared with the Tte. 2° Mario W. Parallada Air Base of the Uruguayan Air Forc ...

is located just across the Río Negro river. While a commercial airport, as of 2021 it lacked passenger or cargo airline services.

History

The town was founded on 12 October 1821, under the name of ''San Pedro del Durazno'', as a homage to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

Pedro I, at a time when the territory of present-day Uruguay had been annexed to Brazil as the

Cisplatine Province Cisplatina () was a Brazilian province in existence from 1821 to 1828 created by the Luso-Brazilian invasion of the Banda Oriental. From 1815 until 1822 Brazil was a constituent kingdom of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarv ...

. It had acquired the status of ''villa'' (town) before the independence of Uruguay. On 13 July 1906, its status was elevated to ''ciudad'' (city) by Act No. 3041. In May 2015, Diego Traibel was elected Mayor for the period 2015–2020.

Population

According to the 2011 census, Durazno had a population of 34,368. Source: ''Instituto Nacional de Estadística de Uruguay''

Places of worship

* St. Peter Parish Church (

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

), a national landmark by

Eladio Dieste Eladio Dieste (December 1, 1917 – July 29, 2000) was a Uruguayan engineer who made his reputation by building a range of structures from grain silos, factory sheds, markets and churches, most of them in Uruguay and all of exceptional eleganc ...

* Parish Church of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (

)

Culture

The church of San Pedro de Durazno is an icon of the city. After a fire it was redesigned by the engineer Eladio Dieste using reinforced brick. Located opposite the Plaza Independencia where the Columbus monument near the church that are just identifying Durazno is quintessential. It is home to the first TEDx event in the interior of Uruguay, TEDxDurazno. This event was first organized in 2013. Interior of St. Peter's church designed by architect Eladio Dieste. In the cultural field is developed from the 1970s a folk festival of national and international importance, for which they have been figures like Leon Gieco, Rubén Rada, Jaime Roos and Soledad Pastorutti, among others. The first festival was mentioned on February 9, 1973, and the name "National Folk Festival" All Sing in Durazno Uruguay. Are also conducted in Durazno, since 1989, First Call of Interior, where troupes parade of candombe in contest for three seats on Calls Carnival in Montevideo. Lately he has taken on national importance, especially among young people, due to massive Pilsen Rock, launched in 2003, where in 2005 150,000 young people enjoyed bands like The Like, The Sow Vela, La Abuela Coca, and Trap were present, among others.

Notable people

Antonio Alzamendi Antonio Alzamendi Casas (born 7 June 1956) is a Uruguayan former footballer who played as a forward. His official debut was with the Uruguayan team Wanderers de Durazno. Alzamendi played for Uruguay at the 1986 and 1990 FIFA World Cups, scor ...

Margarita Martirena Margarita Emilia Martirena Cal (born 6 June 1966 in Durazno, Uruguay) is a retired Uruguayan sprinter from 1982 until 1992. She was a South American champion and holds the Uruguayan record in the 4x100 meter relay and the 100 meter dash. Early ...

References

*http://www.welcomeuruguay.com/durazno/historia.html

External links

*
Durazno Town Hall

INE map of Durazno and Santa Bernardina
Populated places in the Durazno Department Populated places established in 1821 {{Durazno-geo-stub