For visitors interested in culture, evolution of societies, art, and history, there are several Costa Rica museums in central San Jose that offer a glance into the lives of the people that came before us.
This article is about two of them, the Costa Rica Jade Museum and Costa Rica Gold Museum.
Both are just a short walking distance of Costa Rica's National Theatre, right in the center of downtown San Jose and are very popularâ€"-and recommendedâ€"-attractions for visitors.
1. The Jade Museum
Housed in the Instituto Nacional de Seguras, the tallest building in San Jose, is the planet's biggest collection of pre-Columbian jade, with carvingsâ€"-some quite intricateâ€"- dating to 600 B.C.
While it's known the earliest humans in Costa Rica arrived about 12,000-14,000 years before Columbus, at a point in time when mastodons, mammoths, sabre toothed cats, and ground sloths the size of elephants roamed this little country, jade appears to have been little more than another pretty rock until intricate jade carvings apparently exploded onto the scene almost overnight.
The intricacy shows a high degree of skill and the suddenness with which they appeared suggests interaction with other, more advanced societies having different cultural and religious rituals.
One thing is obvious. Its arrival represented a seminal, dramatic change in culture and belief systems involving ideology, non secular rituals, and material culture. Interestingly, the majority of the carvings show animals, not humans, suggesting maybe a mythic and power bestowing symbolism.
2. The Gold Museum
The Costa Rica Gold Museum is found right next door to the National Theatre but you can walk round-and-round and never see it because it's underground! Seems that space is a bit limited downtown and, since a public plaza was already next to the Theatre, the sole place left was below it.
To get to it, simply go behind the National Theatre. It's literally below the plaza.
Just as the jade carvings' sudden arrival (over only a few centuries) significantly transformed the culture and belief systems of the tribes of Costa Rica about 700-600 B.C., the arriving of gold about 400-700 A.D., represented another dramatic movement in material culture.
In a figurative historical "blink-of-an-eye" jade was replaced by gold as the pre eminent valuable material. Carving (jade) was replaced by metallurgy (gold).
That value, though, was not thought of as commerical in nature (in contrast to way the Spaniards --- then and now--- measured its value ).
Instead, the peoples of Costa Rica viewed gold as something that gave them understanding of the world beyond, a look into the cosmos, and the figures they created upon mastering metallurgy became symbols of supernatural deities.
Put another way, while modern society worships gold for what it can materially buy in our lifetime, the tribes of Costa Rica worshipped it for what it offered in a different world.
Of course, jade wasn't the most valuable material one day and replaced by gold overnight. The transition involved an overlap of time as gold was amalgamated into a preexisting, ancient world of culture and ritual until, ultimately, the old ways of thinking and belief (represented by jade) were replaced by newer thought and belief systems.
Certainly, most travelers visiting either museum do so to enjoy the beauty and wonder of the art, not to contemplate why these objects were created or how they not only reflected culture but influenced it.
But ,And, truth be told, at the end of the day, simply admiring beauty may be more than enough reason to visit these attractions.
This article is about two of them, the Costa Rica Jade Museum and Costa Rica Gold Museum.
Both are just a short walking distance of Costa Rica's National Theatre, right in the center of downtown San Jose and are very popularâ€"-and recommendedâ€"-attractions for visitors.
1. The Jade Museum
Housed in the Instituto Nacional de Seguras, the tallest building in San Jose, is the planet's biggest collection of pre-Columbian jade, with carvingsâ€"-some quite intricateâ€"- dating to 600 B.C.
While it's known the earliest humans in Costa Rica arrived about 12,000-14,000 years before Columbus, at a point in time when mastodons, mammoths, sabre toothed cats, and ground sloths the size of elephants roamed this little country, jade appears to have been little more than another pretty rock until intricate jade carvings apparently exploded onto the scene almost overnight.
The intricacy shows a high degree of skill and the suddenness with which they appeared suggests interaction with other, more advanced societies having different cultural and religious rituals.
One thing is obvious. Its arrival represented a seminal, dramatic change in culture and belief systems involving ideology, non secular rituals, and material culture. Interestingly, the majority of the carvings show animals, not humans, suggesting maybe a mythic and power bestowing symbolism.
2. The Gold Museum
The Costa Rica Gold Museum is found right next door to the National Theatre but you can walk round-and-round and never see it because it's underground! Seems that space is a bit limited downtown and, since a public plaza was already next to the Theatre, the sole place left was below it.
To get to it, simply go behind the National Theatre. It's literally below the plaza.
Just as the jade carvings' sudden arrival (over only a few centuries) significantly transformed the culture and belief systems of the tribes of Costa Rica about 700-600 B.C., the arriving of gold about 400-700 A.D., represented another dramatic movement in material culture.
In a figurative historical "blink-of-an-eye" jade was replaced by gold as the pre eminent valuable material. Carving (jade) was replaced by metallurgy (gold).
That value, though, was not thought of as commerical in nature (in contrast to way the Spaniards --- then and now--- measured its value ).
Instead, the peoples of Costa Rica viewed gold as something that gave them understanding of the world beyond, a look into the cosmos, and the figures they created upon mastering metallurgy became symbols of supernatural deities.
Put another way, while modern society worships gold for what it can materially buy in our lifetime, the tribes of Costa Rica worshipped it for what it offered in a different world.
Of course, jade wasn't the most valuable material one day and replaced by gold overnight. The transition involved an overlap of time as gold was amalgamated into a preexisting, ancient world of culture and ritual until, ultimately, the old ways of thinking and belief (represented by jade) were replaced by newer thought and belief systems.
Certainly, most travelers visiting either museum do so to enjoy the beauty and wonder of the art, not to contemplate why these objects were created or how they not only reflected culture but influenced it.
But ,And, truth be told, at the end of the day, simply admiring beauty may be more than enough reason to visit these attractions.
About the Author:
About the writer: Vic Krumm lives in sunny Costa Rica. Visit his acclaimed internet site aboutCosta Rica Vacationsand, before you come, discover moreCosta Rica Tourism Attractionsyou'll enjoy.
