The Children's Republic (), is a theme park located in the city of Manuel B. Gonnet in La Plata, Argentina. With a surface of , and 35 scale buildings, it is regarded as the first theme park in Latin America. The Republic represents a city (proportionally sized for children) with all its institutions: parliament, government house, the courthouse, church, port, theater, airport, restaurants, hotels, etc. It was built by the "Investor Institute of the Province of Buenos Aires" on 53 hectares of land where the Swift Golf Club had its course. It was inaugurated on November 26, 1951, by President Juan Domingo Perón. Its architectural similarity to Disneyland allowed the emergence of an urban myth, which affirms that Walt Disney was inspired in this park to found several years later the one located in California. History In the official project, the instigator of the idea, Colonel Domingo Mercante, governor and founder of the "Investor Institute of the Province of Buenos Aires", proposed: "we want to put the child in an environment of joyful recreation, in direct contact with the citizen responsibilities of the future, so that when he reaches manhood he will be an Argentine aware of his duties, rights and obligations. At the same time that he has for his first years a kind and imperishable memory, and thus form the best and most generous offspring of him". The Republic of Children was built by the Eva Perón Foundation on a land that was formerly a part of Swift Golf Club. On November 26, 1951, the park was officially opened by the then President Juan Domingo Perón. Eva Perón was unable to attend because she was already suffering from the cancer that would end her life several months later. President Perón signed the "Golden Book" of the inauguration with the slogan: "That in this Children's Republic the Argentines learn to be fair, free and sovereign, so that they can never accept the exploitation of brothers, economic submission and political vassalage". As part of its educational and recreational function, the institution housed more than 300 children. During this period "Children's Towns" of the same type were also built in Córdoba and Mendoza. After the Coup d'état of 1955 all democratic training programs were abandoned, and the Children's Republic was reduced to a recreational theme park with mechanical games. In 1968, inspired by Cándido Moneo Sánz, puppeteer and theater director, the