Museums in Costa Rica

It would be impossible to cover all of the attractions that are offered for tourists and nationals in.

The Museo de Oro Precolombino or Museum of Precolumbian gold is located under the Plaza de la Cultura in downtown San Jose. The impressive underground building that houses the exhibit creates a mysterious and dark background for the gleaming beauty of the golden pieces, which seem to float because they're suspended by transparent strings. These indigenous jewels depict numerous animals- frogs, birds, snakes, insects, crocodiles, lobsters and even sharks. The Museo de Moneda, or the Coin Museum, is located in the same building, and its exhibit includes information on coins, as well as interesting samples.

The other museum which displays impressive Indian jewelry is the Museo de Jade, or the Jade Museum. It's located in the INS building in downtown (in the National Insurance building). The amazing quantities and the quality of the jade in the country can only be attributed to trade, since the country lacks jade mines. The exhibit in this museum is the largest American jade collection in the world. The collection is extremely valuable because of the rarity of the mineral and of the religious and historical significance that it has for the Indian population and for the Costa Ricans in general. Like the golden pieces, the jade artifacts also depict animal shapes. 

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The national museum or Museo Nacional is located in an old fort, which was marked by bullet holes during the 1948 Civil War. The archaeological room offers several Indian artifacts made of stone and clay, like pottery. The colonial room presents facts about the conquest and also some examples of religious art brought by the Spaniards. Another section of the Museum is dedicated to current exhibits.

For the art lovers there are two museums that they won't want to miss. The Museo de Arte Costarricense is located in the Sabana urban park, in a beautiful building that was the old international airport. The gorgeous architecture of the building doesn't detract from the fine paintings and sculptures that are on exhibit. Some of the finest Costa Rican art is present in this collection. The Museo de arte contemporaneo (contemporary art), is located in what used to be the National Liquor factory. This sounds very strange, but believe me, the once industrial place has turned into a very artistic and graceful set of buildings and surrounding grounds. Some exhibits vary all the time, and the small and medium-sized auditoriums offer dance and theater presentations.

For the nature-oriented people, there are the Museo de Ciencias Naturales La Salle (Natural science) and the small Entomology Museum in the University Costa Rica. The first museum is located in La Sabana, and it presents a taxidermy collection of various animals and a preserved fish and reptile exhibit. The small university museum (located for some weird reason in the basement of the Music School) contains a large collection of insects of Central and South America, including beautiful butterflies. The admission is free in this museum, but the hours are pretty irregular.

Last but not least, there is the pretty gruesome Museo Criminologico (criminology museum), also located downtown. There are bizarre pictures and even body parts! Besides these grotesque artifacts, there is a narration of the history of criminology and law enforcement in Costa Rica. The small country of Costa Rica offers a large amount of museums that are dedicated to everything from pre-Columbian jewelry made of gold and jade, to natural taxidermy collections, to bizarre criminology displays. All of the main museums are in the downtown San Jose area or very close to it, and can be accessed easily on bus or by taxi. 

Sitting on an isolated rise just north of downtown San Jose is one of the best examples of why Costa Rica is so different from other Latin American countries. The Children's Museum of Costa Rica was not just the first of its kind in Central America, but its location was specifically chosen to send a message. By taking the old military prison and turning it into an interactive and educational experience for its children, Costa Rica was sending the message that the future of this tiny country was not going to be that of bloodshed and strife. Instead, its future would be the education and care of its children. When Don 'Pepe' Figueres abolished the military in 1949 all the military barracks, fortresses and the military prison lost their reason for being. Instead of tearing down these buildings, the vast majority were turned into museums and research facilities. In fact, the National Museum of Costa Rica is housed in the former main military fortress of San Jose. In this way, the Costa Rican people have chosen not to forget the lessons of the past. By keeping these buildings in tact, they are daily reminders of what might have been had they chosen a different path. The former military prison was uniquely suited to becoming the Children's Museum because of its size and the necessary open space surrounding the building. Because of this, there are over 32 exhibition rooms and numerous different activities and experiences both indoors and out. Children can visit an old milk farm, travel through a history of Costa Rica, and experience what it is like to be the director of a symphony orchestra, or listen as a life size robot of Franklin Chang recounts his experiences in space as a NASA astronaut. The museum is not only for Costa Rican children as it is a wonderful way for a visiting family to discover what everyday life is like for most citizens of this small democracy. The museum is located on Calle 4 just north of Ave. 9. It is a large yellow building with high walls, corner turrets and it looks like an old medieval castle. It is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm and on Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. It costs $5 for adults; prices for children are substantially less, depending on age.

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