National Museum of Costa Rica

Plaque commemorating the founding of the museum

The Museo Nacional de Costa Rica, is, as you would rightly expect, is the national museum of Costa Rica located in the capital San José. The museum was founded in 1887, and since 1950 has been located in the Bellavista Barracks, a military barracks until Costa Rica abolished its military in December 1948 after an attempted coup.

The museum is at the east end of the Avenida Central pedestrian mall, just behind Plaza de la Democracia.

The Museum

The museum is divided into multiple areas, each with a different focus or purpose.

Butterfly Garden

After purchasing your ticket, walk to the double sliding doors to the Butterfly Garden. [Ignore the spiral staircase that immediately takes you to the second level unless you suffer from lepidopterophobia.] What was previously an exterior area for troops is now a enclosed habitat for hundreds of butterflies live their entire lives within the garden. The butterflies typically live for approximately three weeks, though some specifies live months.

The butterfly garden is lust, almost jungle-like area, with plenty of plants for butterflies to lay eggs, eat, sip water from. There are also feeding stations to ensure the butterflies receive sufficient nutrients to have a natural life. It’s an enjoyable walk through the gardens as the butterflies quickly scurry from plant to plant, making it difficult to take pictures. The very beautiful blue-winged butterfly only shows blue in-flight; when stationary, its wings are closed and the exterior wings’ color is brown. Be patient but don’t expect much.

The last thing my wife and I expected to find at a national museum are butterflies, but it was very enjoyable and educational, many signs describing and explaining butterflies.

There is a gradual sloping path that takes you to the second level where, again, you go through a double sliding doors that (hopefully) keeps the butterflies contained.

Barracks

After leaving the Butterfly Garden you are led to remains of the barracks: kitchens, toilets, dungeons, etc. The exhibit describes the lives of soldiers who were stationed here. It’s not a well-lit area – hence difficult to take pictures, though suppose I could have used a flash! – but shows clearly the difficulties presented to the Costa Rican soldiers at the time.

The only usable picture I took has nothing to do with the barracks: a section of the ceiling of the Old Congress which was demolished in 1950, after the military was abolished and the barracks were no longer barracks. Beautiful, yes, but a little out of context.

Costa Rican History

After the barracks, most of the rest of the museum tells the history of Costa Rica through art, artifacts, newspapers, technology, and anything else needed to tell the country’s story from pre-Columbian times through to modern days.

The pre-Columbian history of Costa Rica is told with pre-Columbian artwork. While interesting, the more impressive collection is in the Museo del Jade (while colloquially known as the Jade Museum, its complete name is Museo del Jade y de la Cultura Precolombina, and the pre-Columbian art collection may be larger than the jade collection).

The history is presented chronologically and each display has a theme describing the country at that time. The late nineteenth century and the age of the coffee barons who basically ran the country through the dissolution of the military in 1950 was the most interesting to me: agriculture, transportation, politics, people’s lives are all discussed.

The late-twentieth century focuses on the country transforming from its agricultural roots to a more educated world, driven by the advances in education. The more recent displays show plenty of consumer products that you’d recognize, but with a Costa Rican perspective.

Most importantly, everything was translated into English so I could learn. You could spend 2+ hours just working through the history, reading all the placards, looking at all the items and artifacts. Very interesting, very impressive, very enjoyable.

Other Areas

One hallway seemed to have artwork that was separate from the art in the history area. This might have been a temporary exhibit, but don’t quote me on it.

The rooftop is where the country’s president announced the dissolution of the military after the attempted coup in 1948-49. It has outdoor artwork, a small sculpture garden.

The rooftop might also be used for talks or concerts, as chairs were set up; on our visit, the heavy rain would have canceled anything scheduled.

You can also get some great views of San Jose, especially heading towards the mountains.

Final Thoughts

Overall an excellent museum, well laid-out, easy to get around, and very interesting.

I was not expecting a Butterfly Garden. My wife pointed out that it is a museum about Costa Rica and the butterflies’ habitat is similar to the jungles around Costa Rica, but it still was a surprise.

The Costa Rican history is well-curated, well-described, with plenty of supporting artifacts, so if you have any interest in history, it’s definitely a win. The describing placards are informative without being overwhelming, and build nicely to tell the story of Costa Rica. For a non-Spanish speaker, the English translations were appreciated and well done, no noticeable or distracting Engrish problems.

Overall I highly recommend a visit when visiting San José.

Logistics

Web site: https://www.museocostarica.go.cr/

Address: Cuesta de Moras, Av. Central, San José, Bella Vista, 10101, Costa Rica, walk through the Plaza de la Democracia and towards the back right you’ll find the museum’s entrance.

Hours: https://www.museocostarica.go.cr/visitar

Tuesday through Saturday: 8:30am – 4:30pm
Sunday: 9:00am – 4:00pm
Closed Monday and holidays

Entrance Fee:

$11 for foreigners, $6 for foreign students
¢2,500 for Costa Rican nationals
free for certain categories of visitors (primarily Costa Rican nationals)

English: Most (all?) exhibit descriptions and placards are translated into English.

Recommended Visit Length: 90 minutes – 3 hours, depending on how much you want to learn about Costa Rican history.

Appropriate For Children? YES, for the butterfly garden alone, though older children might enjoy the items and artifacts in the history section of the museum.