National Museum of Costa Rica, Military fortress turned museum in San José, Costa Rica.
The National Museum of Costa Rica occupies the former Bellavista Barracks, a yellow building with two round corner towers topped by white crenellations and white molding bands across its facade. A wide staircase leads to an arched portico, above which sits a recessed balcony and a flagpole. The words "MUSEO NACIONAL DE COSTA RICA" appear in white capital letters on the lower facade.
The Bellavista barracks was begun in 1917, accelerated after Federico Tinoco's coup that year, and finished between 1928 and 1932 under Cleto González Víquez. It served as an arms depot and recruit-training site until the army was abolished on 1 December 1948. The museum moved in in 1950.
The name Bellavista comes from the hill where the barracks stood, not from a colonial fortress. In the Sala de Historia Precolombina, more than 800 objects—arrowheads, metates, vessels, necklaces—trace 12,000 BCE to 1500 CE. The Casa Colonial recreates a bedroom and dining room using the original structure of a house from Guanacaste province.
The museum sits across from the Legislative Assembly and is straightforward to locate. Budget time to see multiple exhibition spaces since the compound covers considerable ground.
The museum's collection includes the Diquis stone spheres, nearly perfect stone balls made by pre-Columbian peoples. Some of these spheres are displayed in the outdoor areas, where visitors can see their rounded shapes up close.
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