A Visit to Museo Nacional de Costa Rica

Since my weekend didn't turn out as hoped (again), I convinced Nic to go the Museo Nacional de Costa Rica or National Museum in San Jose with me. This is probably one of the few museums I wanted to see besides the churches and this would be my last chance to get there this trip.

The Museo Nacional de Costa Rica is located in an old fort. Once the army was disbanded in 1948, the fort was no longer needed and was turned into the museum. So not only do you get to learn the history of Costa Rica but you get to explore an Old Fort while you are at it. I am sucker for old Forts... that's probably my inner history geek showing through.

After paying our admission ($9), we headed into the museum. The first exhibit was (another) butterfly garden. I'm beginning to think every touristy place in Costa Rica must have a butterfly garden with blue butterflies... 3 different places and 3 butterfly gardens all with pretty much the same butterflies. Now don't get me wrong, I love butterflies, especially the blue ones, but after awhile the whole butterfly garden gets old after awhile. I tried to get them to land on me again but they didn't like me.

Then we headed into the actual fort and learned about the history of the fort and Costa Rica. You can see the gun windows, bathrooms, and prison cells from the original fort.

The Latrines 

Writing on the cell walls

Because the museum is in an old fort, the layout is difficult to follow. We ended up in a courtyard (with cannons!) and had to figure out where to go from there. It was tough knowing if we hit all the exhibits or not.

I personally liked the ancient civilization stone carvings and funeral altars. The history geek/archaeologist in me really loved that exhibit. We even saw dead bodies... hopefully they were real skeletons and not just recreations.

Altar

Funeral "Stretchers"

There was a lot to see including exhibits on work, life, government

Of course it won't be a Costa Rican Museum without an Ox Cart or 2

The view from the fort overlooking the city wasn't bad either

Nic does museums like I do. I look at the exhibits and if something catches me eye I'll read about it. I don't have to read EVERY single exhibit. I'm more of a museum browser. We probably spent about an hour or so in the museum. It was very interesting and definitely worth the trip. I would go back and check it out again if I'm ever in San Jose again and needed something to do.