San Jose city of Costa Rica is full of Museums and if you have to chose only one, Museo Nacional de Costa Rica should be the one. If you don't believe me, let's take a quick journey to the museum without many photographs of interiors as I don't feel like sharing museum photographs to take out the charm of visiting the building and exploring it with your eyes. This blogpost shares more about Museo Nacional de Costa Rica, it's entry ticket fees, restrictions, what to expect inside the museum and some tips to make best of your visit to Museo Nacional de Costa Rica.
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The Museo Nacional de Costa Rica is the national museum of Costa Rica, which is located in the capital of San Jose and that too at happening part of the city where one can walk around and explore even more. This museum is at walkable distance from Central Avenue. Museo Nacional de Costa Rica is located between Central and Second Avenue, Cuesta de Moras, in the Bellavista Fortress, a crenallated, ochre colored building opposite the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica.
This is a kind of fortress which was built in 1917 and was originally a military barracks: the exterior walls still have many bullets lodged in them from the country's 1948 civil war. It became the site of the museum in 1950.
While we are talking about military, let me share an interesting fact which I got to know during the trip was that Costa Rica doesn't have an army and as an Indian first thought comes to my mind - how much budget they are saving for other developments. In India, we have huge spent on army and certainly that's needed.
The entrance on the east side of Museo Nacional de Costa Rica leads to a courtyard displaying pre-Columbian artifacts and cannons from the colonial period.
Museo Nacional de Costa Rica had a notable collection of pre-Columbian stone tables (metates), ceramics and a gold room 'Sala de Oro' in another tower.
The colonial room of Museo Nacional de Costa Rica has a notable collection of furniture and is designed to emulate that of an actual quarters in the 18th century. The museum also has an exhibit of the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Oscar Arias, and a bust of José Figueres and butterfly garden in the outside "Plaza de la Democracia".
Museo Nacional de Costa Rica museum is organized thematically in a counter clockwise direction from the entrance with artifacts related to Costa Rica's geological, colonial, archaeological, religious and modern history.
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Let's also talk about timings of Costa Rican National Museum :
Tuesday to Saturday: 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.
Sunday: 9:00 am to 4:30 pm.
Monday: closed due to maintenance.
On following dates the museum is closed. These details are for 2019, but do check out latest details on Museum website.
January 1st: first day of the year
April: Good Thursday and Good Friday
May 1st: Labor Day
July 25th: Annexation of the Nicoya region to the province of Guanacaste
August 15th: Mother´s Day
September 15th: Independence Day
October 12th: Cultures´s Day
December 24th: Christmas
December 25th: Christmas
December 31th: New Year Holiday
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There is an entry ticket fees for Costa Rica National Museum and here are some specific details :
One fee: $9
Foreign students with id: $4.
Children under 12: free.
Students, youth people or teachers with ISIC card: $4
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