Two treasure houses of pre-Columbian Costa Rica: shimmering gold animals in a vault beneath the main plaza, and carved jade a few blocks away.
The Museo del Oro Precolombino lies underground beneath the Plaza de la Cultura, a modern vault holding more than 1,600 pieces of pre-Columbian goldwork.
Most come from the southern Pacific region and date from about AD 700 to 1550. Frogs, jaguars, crocodiles, birds of prey and masked shamans were cast and hammered as pendants and pectorals, worn as symbols of rank and spiritual power. The displays explain how they were made and what they meant.
Five blocks east, the Museo del Jade fills a striking modern building with the largest collection of American jade anywhere, along with ceramics and stone carving from across the country's ancient cultures.
The two together make a full morning; do the gold first and the jade after lunch.
A museum morning.
Enter the Gold Museum from the Plaza de la Cultura, next to the Teatro Nacional.
Walk the galleries of frogs, jaguars and birds, and the displays on metalworking.
Have lunch in the centre, or coffee at the Teatro Nacional's café.
Walk five blocks east to the Jade Museum near the Plaza de la Democracia.
Explore the jade carvings and ceramics, floor by floor.
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Both museums are in the walkable centre; the Gold Museum is under the plaza beside the Teatro Nacional.
Foreign visitors pay about US$15–16 at each museum; residents pay less.
The Gold Museum also has a coin and banknote collection on the same ticket.
San José practical notes →Photographs from Wikimedia Commons and Pexels under their licences.
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