Museo del Oro Precolombino Review

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Museo del Oro Precolombino

  • Address: Eastern end of Plaza de la Cultura, C. 5, Avdas. Central-2, Barrio La Soledad, San José
  • Phone: 243-4202
  • www.museosdelbancocentral.org

Fodor's Review:

The dazzling, modern museum of gold, in a three-story underground structure beneath the Plaza de la Cultura, contains the largest collection of pre-Columbian gold jewelry in Central America—20,000 troy ounces in more than 1,600 individual pieces—all owned by the Banco Central, and displayed attractively in low-lit, bilingual exhibits. Many pieces are in the form of frogs and eagles, two animals perceived by the region's pre-Columbian cultures to have great spiritual significance. All that glitters here is not gold: Most spectacular are the varied shaman figurines, which represent the human connection to animal deities. One of the halls houses the Museo Numismática (Coin Museum; admission included with Gold Museum), a repository of historic coins and bills and other objects used as legal tender throughout the country's history. Rotating art exhibitions live on another level of the complex.

  • Cost: $6
  • Open: Daily 9:30-5
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