Costa Rica Info Link

Haga click en el siguiente enlace para leer está página en Español: Museo de Historia Natural del Indio Kurietí en Costa Rica

The Indian Kurietí Natural History Museum Costa Rica develops oral and written research, as well as archaeological and cultural properties protection from the colonial era to today. Moreover in recent years the museum has been devoted to the investigation, retrieval and distribution of medicinal plants in the region, that’s why a sort of botanical garden was created, where Ángel Ramírez himself explains the therapeutic use of all the flowers and trees he has cultivated. The museum is located in Tobosi del Guarco, Cartago.

Over the past thirty years, Ángel Ramírez Ramírez has been committed to rescue the history and traditions of the Tobosi del Guarco indigenous. His initiative and creativity allowed him to create the Indian Kurietí Natural History Museum called in honor of a former Suquia of the area. Its link in the rescue of the local culture began in 1971 when he decided to investigate the origins of their community and their relationship with Piriruci-Tobosi indigenous. Gradually he collected more than 2,000 documents related to the topic. So in 1990 the project was designated of cultural and scientific importance by the National Commission on Selection and Disposal of Records, under decree number 72002.

Ramírez currently develops oral and written research, archaeological and cultural properties protection, and precisely at the Indian Kurietí Natural History Museum is where all those elements can be found. There you will have access to information on the indigenous roots of the Tobosi area, indigenous graves replicas, photographs and other items that remind us the history of the area.

Address: 150 meters south of the Tobosi del Guarco police station, district: Tobosi, canton: El Guarco, province: Cartago, Costa Rica. Zone postal code: 30803.
GPS Coordinates of Tobosi: 9.84455,-83.983003 (9°50’40.38″N, 83°58’58.81″W)
Schedule: from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed Tuesday.
Phone: + (506) 2573-7113

Address map: Click here to view directions from Central Park, San Jose, Costa Rica TO Tobosi del Guarco, Cartago, Costa Rica at Google Maps

Haga click en el siguiente enlace para leer está página en Español: Museo Histórico Etnográfico Elías Leiva Quirós del Colegio San Luis Gonzaga en Costa Rica

San Luis Gonzaga’s High School Elías Leiva Quirós Historical Ethnographic Museum Costa Rica aims to preserve and exhibit the archaeological and historical collection that started to be collected on November 10th, 1932. It consists of a colonial arms room, a pre-Columbian pieces room and a room that represents a “colonial home”. It is located in one of the oldest cities in Costa Rica, in a valley not far from San Jose. Here, students go to class in a building that has been an academy, barracks, school and museum.

To celebrate the anniversary of the decree that made free and obligatory the national education, several teachers in the province of Cartago gathered many historical artifacts. Professor Elías Leiva Quirós, it’s first manager, well known for his effort and sacrifice in making this project a reality, with the idea to educate students in the love for their country through its history.

This is how, with these first objects, the museum was created by decree on January 9th, 1832 at the San Luis Gonzaga High School, a museum dedicated to preserve the Cartago culture. After the death of Don Elías, in 1936, the museum passed through different experiences, especially marked by the time of the civil war in 1948. During the conflict, the San Luis Gonzaga High School was used as barracks and prison and during this occupation is that the museum was looted. After 1948, the surviving collection is made available to the public, but without the necessary security conditions, this situation continued until 1965 when the then-director Don Jesús Baldares Molina introduced several improvements to the museum and moved it to its current location at the lower part of the institutional building northeast section.

On November 10th, 1965 it was reopened with the name Elías Leiva Quirós Ethnographic Museum, as a tribute to its sponsor and it is in this structure that operates at present. Within its extensive collection people can trace the history of Costa Rica, from pre-Hispanic times through the period of conquest and colony, until the nineteenth and early twentieth century.

To complete the experience, the same building that houses the school and the museum is an architectural gem with a lot of history: built in the 1920s, with its impressive stairway entrance and central plaza, it has seen many generations of students, as it was the host of the first high school in Costa Rica, opened in 1869.

The trip is complemented with the living history that exists in the “old city”. All around the city’s central town there are historic houses and buildings, many with sensitive architectural works that combine with the beautiful view of the Irazú Volcano and the Tierra Blanca and Pacaya towns. The museum seeks to be a dynamic entity, which is projected to the San Luis Gonzaga students and faculty, and including them in its activities designed to help the Cartago community. The Elías Leiva Quirós Historical Ethnographic Museum is a project that is constantly being updated, as it has throughout its history and now begins a new cycle in it’s process. Come and be part of the living history of this museum!

Address: North side of the San Luis Gonzaga High School, district: Occidental, canton: Cartago, province: Cartago, Costa Rica. Zone postal code: 30102.
GPS Coordinates: 9.862428,-83.922689 (9°51’44.74″N, 83°55’21.68″W)
Phone: + (506) 2551-0895

Address map: Click here to view directions from Central Park, San Jose, Costa Rica TO the Elías Leiva Quirós of the San Luis Gonzaga High School Historical Ethnographic Museum in Cartago, Costa Rica at Google Maps

Haga click en el siguiente enlace para leer está página en Español: Museo de Turrialba Omar Salazar Obando en Costa Rica

Turrialba’s Omar Salazar Obando Museum Costa Rica is located in the University of Costa Rica Atlantic Regional Headquarters in Turrialba and it’s purpose is to rescue the canton’s indigenous roots. It has in display an archaeological exhibit of the area, featuring the lifestyles of Turrialba’s early populations. It also exhibits a magnificent collection of ceramic figures and policies, including scrapers, burins, knives, etc, and a reconstruction of a typical house used by the aborigines of the area.

It provides information on archaeological sites in the region, such as the Guayabo National Monument. People can also see photos of the place, original drawings reproductions available on it’s driveways and a reconstructive model of the site.

The Omar Salazar Obando Museum of Turrialba has children’s workshops and weekly courses seeking for students to learn more about the origins of its indigenous people. Therefore, the museum combines theory with practical activities that allow children to practice their acquired knowledge.

Address: University of Costa Rica campus, district: Turrialba, canton: Turrialba, province: Cartago, Costa Rica. Zone postal code: 30501.
GPS Coordinates: 9.900731,-83.673517 (9°54’2.63″N, 83°40’24.66″W)
Schedule: from Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Phone: + (506) 2558-3717

Address map: Click here to view directions from Central Park, San Jose, Costa Rica TO Turrialba, Cartago, Costa Rica at Google Maps

Haga click en el siguiente enlace para leer está página en Español: Museo Vulcanológico de Costa Rica

The Volcanological Museum Costa Rica is the first museum dedicated to the study of volcanoes. You will learn the wonderful world of volcanoes. The museum teaches about the Irazú volcano, about its history, eruptions, hydrography, flora, fauna, agriculture and people, and also educates about the volcanoes of Costa Rica, volcanoes on Earth and volcanoes in other planets, how they are formed and much more. The museum features films of the Irazú volcano, legends and photographs of other volcanoes.

Address: 5 km before the entrance to the Irazú Volcano, district: Santa Rosa, canton: Oreamuno, province: Cartago, Costa Rica. Zone postal code: 30705.
GPS Coordinates: 9.958833,-83.844953 (9°57’31.7988″, 83°50’41.8308″W)
Schedule: from Mondays to Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sundays from 8 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Phone: + (506) 2530-8013

Address map: Click here to view directions from Central Park, San Jose, Costa Rica TO the Volcanological Museum in Cartago, Costa Rica at Google Maps

Haga click en el siguiente enlace para leer está página en Español: Museo Histórico Religioso de Nuestra Señora de Ujarrás Costa Rica

Our Lady of Ujarrás Historical Religious Museum Costa Rica arises in the eighties with the idea from the then pastor Jorge Picado, which invites community members to organize and establish a center where they could display items belonging to the past of the canton of Paraiso, Cartago. But over time the idea was abandoned, until 1985, when the priest Gerardo Sanabria arrives to the village, who in the early nineties, continues the museum project, supported by ACUJA (Ujarrás Cultural Association), however, at this time it didn’t open its doors, because they continued researching and preparing the space for it. In 2000, due to renovations in the physical infrastructure of the parish, the museum was transferred and reopened in 2003 at the bottom of the temple, which until today offers to the public the history of the canton of Paraiso, Cartago.

Our Lady of Ujarrás Historical Religious Museum (Museo Histórico Religioso de Nuestra Señora de Ujarrás) has a very high value for the community, as after its doors is locked the history of the canton of Paraiso, from its beginnings in pre-Columbian times (in the Ujarrás valley), its colonization, the discovery of the Ujarrás Virgin (event with high influence in the town’s history), until his subsequent transfer to Paraiso and the growth the town has experienced since then.

The museum has several areas, such as the archaeological which samples how ancestors were and lived in Ujarrás, the peasant and traditional everyday objects used in masquerades at that time, the religious devoted to the Ujarrás Virgin, as well as worship objects and important celebrations; the historical with documents, relocation decrees, scrolls, newspapers, etc. The museum features photographs of ancestors and activities of the village with an area dedicated to Don Florencio del Castillo, his life and importance to our country, and with an Indian grave with petroglyph casket brought from Urasca and rests of the ancient foundations of the temple constructed with Calicanto.

About ACUJA, Ujarrás Cultural Association

It is an association that promotes cultural canton activities and works to rescue and maintain customs and traditions that since past times have characterized the community of Paraiso of Cartago. It has its beginnings in the mid-eighties when the idea to create the museum arose and a group of people reunited to form a committee, but that committee decayed until it is reestablished in 1993, when the idea of the museum re-arises and another group of people is assembled, with the duty to search and organize the cultural heritage of Paraiso and exhibit to any visitor.

Address: northeast side of Paraiso of Cartago Church, district: Paraíso, canton: Paraíso, province: Cartago, Costa Rica. Zone postal code: 30201.
GPS Coordinates: 9.838628,-83.865631 (9°50’19.06″N, 83°51’56.27″W)
Ujarras Church Ruins GPS Coordinates: 9.828519,-83.836033 (9°49’42.67″N, 83°50’9.72″W)
Schedule: from Thursdays to Saturdays from 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sundays from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Phone: +506 2574-7258

Address map: Click here to view directions from Central Park, San Jose, Costa Rica TO Paraiso of Cartago, Costa Rica at Google Maps

Haga click en el siguiente enlace para leer está página en Español: Museo de Arte Religioso de San José de Orosi Costa Rica

The San José of Orosi Religious Art Museum Costa Rica is one of the greatest treasures that the church has as it is proof of colonial Christianity and emphasizes how Costa Rica inherited a very strong religious inclination. It is located next to the temple in an Ancient Franciscan Fathers Convent, construction that dates back to 1743. Both the temple and the museum were built in the late eighteenth century by the Franciscan Fathers and have become the symbol of the colonial era. The buildings are made of adobe and some Calicanto, a mixture of stone, cement, sand and lime. Its exterior is austere, but the interior decor is absolutely baroque with carved and painted wooden sculptures and altarpieces.

The museum opened in 1980 and since then offers visitors a complete picture of the Catholic history of the place. At the San Jose of Orosi Religious Art Museum you will find Colonial religious art manifestations, it’s art collection includes approximately 120 pieces including paintings, hollies, a tomb and many religious objects that are still used in some special occasions. The museum also shows an old Franciscan room, the dining used from the eighteenth century and chasubles that were used in religious services of that era.

Orosi Church Legend

In the archives of the former Museums General Direction, it’s documented an ancient legend about the construction of the Orosi Church, which is located next to the San Jose of Orosi Religious Art Museum. It is said that the temple opens its door to the main rising sun, a rarity compared to other churches that look to the West.

To explain this feature, the locals highlight an ancient legend which tells us that when the Franciscans arrived to Orosi with the Talamanca Indians who carried on their shoulders the Saint Joseph picture playing a silver bell. But in the mountains when they got to the boiling hot spring, the bell did not want to sound anymore, so they discussed that in that place the church had to be built, as was done at once. After shortly made, the church was destroyed several times by a river. There were great penances and prayers, but at the end they understood that while the church was lifted in the usual manner it would fall, because Saint Joseph wanted to always look to Talamanca.

Address: South side of the Orosi Church, district: Orosi, canton: Paraiso, province: Cartago, Costa Rica. Zone postal code: 30203.
GPS Coordinates: 9.79705,-83.854125 (9°47’49.38″N, 83°51’14.85″W)
Schedule: from Tuesday to Friday 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Phone: + (506) 2533-3852

Address map: Click here to view directions from Central Park, San Jose, Costa Rica TO the San José of Orosi Religious Art Museum in Cartago, Costa Rica at Google Maps