Costa Rica (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Matthew Firestone [45]
Return to beginning of chapter
SIGHTS
San José is small and best explored on foot, where you can join locals along teeming sidewalks and pedestrian boulevards that lead to vintage theaters, crowded cafes, lush parks and some of the finest museums in Central America.
Return to beginning of chapter
Central San José East
PLAZA DE LA CULTURA
For many Ticos, Costa Rica begins here. This architecturally unremarkable concrete plaza (Map; Avs Central & 2 btwn Calles 3 & 5) in the heart of downtown is usually packed with locals slurping ice-cream cones and admiring the wide gamut of San José street life: juggling clowns, punk-rock teenagers and pop-lite Christian bands. It is perhaps one of the safest spots in the city since the entire plaza serves as the ceiling of the Museo de Oro Precolombino y Numismática, which is located one level down, and is therefore considered private property (this gives security guards the right to shoo away ‘unsavory’ characters).
Museo de Oro Precolombino y Numismática
Beneath the plaza is this three-in-one museum (Map; 2243-4221; www.museosdelbancocentral.org; basement, Plaza de la Cultura; admission US$9; 9am-4:45pm Tue-Sun). It is owned by the Banco Central, and the dim, brutalist architecture brings to mind all the warmth and comfort of a bank vault. But the museum is an important repository of Costa Rica’s most priceless pieces of pre-Columbian gold, and the collection – which contains hand-tooled ornaments that date back to AD 400 – is beautifully lit and presented. Look for intricate depictions of regional fauna, such as frogs, bats, crabs and jaguars. A smaller exhibit area details the history of Costa Rican currency, while another features a rotating selection of regional art.
Teatro Nacional
On the southern side of the plaza resides the Teatro Nacional (Map; 2221-1329; Calles 3 & 5 btwn Avs Central & 2; admission US$7; 9am-4pm Mon-Sat), San José’s most revered public building. Constructed in 1897, it features a columned neoclassical facade that is flanked by statues of Beethoven and Calderón de la Barca, a 17th-century Spanish dramatist. The lavish marble lobby and auditorium are lined with paintings depicting various facets of 19th-century life. The most famous is Alegoría al café y el banano, an idyllic canvas showing coffee and banana harvests. The painting was produced in Italy and shipped to Costa Rica for installation in the theater, and the image was reproduced on the old ₡5 note (now out of circulation). It is clear that the painter never witnessed a banana harvest because of the way the man in the center is awkwardly grasping a bunch (actual banana workers hoist the stems onto their shoulders).
For information on performances, Click here. If you’re looking to rest your feet, try the excellent onsite cafe (Click here).
Across the street, also belonging to the national theater is the Galería García Monge (Map; cnr Av 2 & Calle 5; admission free), which features temporary exhibitions by contemporary Costa Rican and Central American artists.
MUSEO NACIONAL DE COSTA RICA
The Museo Nacional (Map; 2257-1433; www.museocostarica.go.cr; Calle 17 btwn Avs Central & 2; adult/child US$6/3; 8:30am-4:30pm Tue-Sun) is located inside the old Bellavista Fortress, which served as the old army headquarters and saw fierce fighting (hence the pockmarks) in the 1948 civil war. It was here that President José Figueres Ferrer announced, in 1949, that he was abolishing the country’s military.
The museum provides a quick survey of Costa Rican history, with exhibits of pre-Columbian pieces from ongoing digs, as well as artifacts from the colony and the early republic. Among the many notable pieces is the fountain pen that Figueres used to sign the 1949 constitution. Don’t miss the newly restored period galleries in the northeast corner, which feature turn-of-the-20th-century furnishings