National Museum of Costa Rica

Beautiful location with a lot of history. There are a lot of things to see in this museum and has many different areas. Make sure to plan a few hours out of your day if you will visit here.

Staff were very friendly and very informative.

Beautiful museum that has a great history of CR. We went around the afternoon until closing, recommendations were for 2-2.5hrs but we didn't finish in that time. This was one of our last stops in CR after exploring, learned a lot of history on CR that isn't so regularly found. Well worth the time and money if you're in San Jose and want to learn on CR history.

Amazing museum! So much to see and learn. We were there two hours and I think we saw everything. Don't forget to look at the architecture itself! Beautiful building!🥰

👉Definitely bring water with you as there are no water fountains or cafés on site.

Excellent displays that explain the history and culture of Costa Rica and attempt to respect the indigenous population Latin America. The butterfly conservatory and history of the barracks, abolition of the army and nice city views make it worth while visiting. The really should number the displays and provide a recommended path of touring the facility.

Full of Costa Rican Rich history and explain a lot of the historical events in the country is a really good place for kids to learn about history through the years in the country and they have a lot of interactive places! They have temporary exibits as well. they have a beautiful butterfly garden and the view from the top building is amazing as well the whole tour didn't take more than an hour and a half you can take a little bit longer if you stop by and read through everything we just wanted to see the other museums they are around the area as well.

A large museum with a wide selection of history up to the modern day. I particularly liked the ancient 3-legged stool like stone sculptures. It really ties in with the ones in the Jade Museum. But I would like to give both museums some advice. There is a steady stream of visitors but no decent gift shops. They could really improve their revenue with some tasteful small reproductions. It would need to be able to fit in suitcases. Start small and see what sells. I'm thinking maybe some jade pendant necklaces or something on the theme of stone spheres. Not too expensive maybe 20 to 30 $. Maybe do a survey of visitors to ask what they would buy.

Interesting museum focused on Costa Rica's history in the past few centuries. A great place to go if you want to learn about the adversities, resilience and subsequent growth the Costa Rican people faced since the Spanish conquests and more recently from the different wars waged in Central America. Their history is testament to the resolve of great people and the willingness to put the violence of the past to rest.

Without a doubt one of the best museums in Latin America (trust me I’ve been to almost all of them). The national museum beautifully captures in modern exhibits and a state of the art museum the history and culture of the country. If you only have time for 1 museum this is it. It’s worth every dollar and includes a butterfly sanctuary (those with Lepidopterophobia beware!). The museum should take you about 1.5 hours to see it all.

I really enjoyed the museum. The building has a very interesting history and there's a lot of respect for the story of the indigenous peoples of Costa Rica and the conquest by the conquistadors. Lots to learn and see, and really knowledgeable and friendly staff. The butterfly garden was a nice surprise as well.

Today, we did a little more extensive tour of San Jose. This Museum is a treasure!

The National Museum of Costa Rica invites you to learn about the cultural and natural history of Costa Ricans, from pre-Columbian times to the present.

Its exhibition rooms show the varied collections in the fields of national history, archeology and natural history, which for 135 years has been the oldest in the country. It holds temporary exhibitions on artistic and cultural themes and has a varied agenda of activities throughout the year.

The Museum is located in an emblematic building, declared Historical Architectural Heritage and symbol of the abolition of the army in Costa Rica.

According to the United Nations, Costa Rica had an estimated population of 5,153,957 people as of 2021. White and Mestizos make up 83.4% of the population, 7% are black people (including mixed race), 2.4% Amerindians, 0.2% Chinese and 7% other/none.

In 2010, just under 3% of the population was of African descent. These are called Afro-Costa Ricans or West Indians and are English-speaking descendants of 19th-century black Jamaican immigrant workers. Another 1% is composed of those of Chinese origin, and less than 1% are West Asian, mainly of Lebanese descent but also Palestinians. The 2011 Census provided the following data: whites and mestizos make up 83.4% of the population, 7% are black people (including mixed race), 2.4% Amerindians, 0.2% Chinese, and 7% other/none.

There is also a community of North American retirees from the United States and Canada, followed by fairly large numbers of European Union expatriates (chiefly Scandinavians and from Germany) come to retire as well, and Australians. Immigration to Costa Rica made up 9% of the population in 2012. This included permanent settlers as well as migrants who were hoping to reach the U.S. In 2015, there were some 420,000 immigrants in Costa Rica and the number of asylum seekers (mostly from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua) rose to more than 110,000. An estimated 10% of the Costa Rican population in 2014 was made up of Nicaraguans.

The indigenous population today numbers about 60,000 (just over 1% of the population), with some Miskito and Garifuna (a population of mixed African and Carib Amerindian descent) living in the coastal regions.

Costa Rica's emigration is the smallest in the Caribbean Basin and is among the smallest in the Americas. By 2015 about just 133,185 (2.77%) of the country's people live in another country as immigrants. The main destination countries are the United States (85,924), Nicaragua (10,772), Panama (7,760), Canada (5,039), Spain (3,339), Mexico (2,464), Germany (1,891), Italy (1,508), Guatemala (1,162) and Venezuela (1,127).

You can't miss this museum. It's unbelievably beautiful, super diverse, and you learn more from Costa Rica's history and nature combined than in another other museum. The butterfly room is just amazing, the garden views with the pre-Columbian spheres of the Legislative building, and the whole metropolitan valley views are a must.
The history of the building itself is also worth to know about.
The collection of pre-Columbian objects and the interactive rooms are also one of the best in the country
Definitely worth a visit (and on Sundays is free!)

Great museum that’s the right size. We were able to walk the entire space in 1.5 hours. Allot of information to share.

This museum is fantastic. The grounds surrounding it are spectacular (although sometimes the people in the park outside can seem sorta sketchy). You can see the Legislative Assembly building from the front door and there's a fantastic park across the street. I especially liked the statues and modern art out front-- even the bike rack is artistic. The inside of the museum is impressive as well.

A rich and through historical experience of Costa Rica. Allocate at least 3 hrs as this place is extensive and plenty to see in the entire museum. The Jade Museum is literally across the road from this Museum and the Gold museum is a 10 min walk from here.

This place is so amazing and we learned so much about Costa Rican history. Little did we know Spaniards were so cruel towards the indigenous people back in the days. The museum also has butterfly garden with probably thousands of butterflies flying all over. Highly recommend it if you have children.

Free entry during lunch...what not to like. Great museum with lots of interesting artefacts, from prehistory to 1960s.

A high quality national museum representative of the various time periods of Costa Rican history including a great display of Pre-Colonization artifacts of stone and gold. A great place to spend a few hours with your family or even traveling solo. Added bonus was the Mariposa room / Butterfly enclosure. Disfrute todo!

Lots of interesting local history and the butterfly exhibit is really beautiful

Children under 12 are free, yay! And adults cost $11 usd. Definitely worth the price as this is a great museum to visit in the heart of San Jose. The history of the museum itself is fascinating, the rustic walls with bullet holes still visible. There are a lot of other sites to see within walking distance. There are different sections of the museum including a butterfly atrium with huge butterflies and beautiful plants. Rooms with large photographs of the building in days past and how it came to be a museum. The history of the army and country itself. An art exhibit. Cool old benches you can sit down and enjoy your lunch surrounded by a beautiful garden and huge stone spheres. The view from the top of the building is breath taking and you can see the mountains and town around you.

This museum is definitely worth while if you are in San Jose to get an overview of the important history of Costa Rica. Entrance fee was reasonable and you start at their butterfly garden before heading into special exhibitions and then their upper floor had a long area of historical artifacts and an informative history narrative. Was a great exhibition and we learned a lot! Many of the artifacts were well preserved and very interesting to look at. Thank you for sharing your history with us!