There are numerous fun and educational museums in San Jose, most inside easy walking distance from one another.
One of those, the Costa Rica Jade Museum, is a have to see for visitors wanting to look back to the live and cultures of the people that came before us.
While most people doubtless think of a museum as a place where old things and art from past times are put on displayâ€"-and where one or two hours can be whiled away before having dinnerâ€"-the displays are much more.
A good museum has 2 characteristics:
- A single piece (or multiple pieces of an artist) of art like a carving, painting, or statue offers a glimpse back in time to the inventive soul of a particular artist while
- A collection of pieces from many people, representing disparate social groups, and covering an extended time period (typically measured in epochs or centuries), affords a chance to witness the development of a people's culture, religious rituals and material life.
This Costa Rica museum, found in the Naciona de Suguras or National Insurance Institute, houses the world's biggest collection of pre-Columbian jade, more than 6,000 pieces.
The appearance of Costa Rican jade carvings, about 600 B.C, coincided with a dramatic religious, material and cultural change in the country that lasted for almost 1,000 years until replaced by another seminal, seismic change when gold replaced jade.
While humans had lived in Costa Rica for perhaps 13,000-15,000 years, sophisticated jade carvings suddenly appeared on the scene during the course of only a few decades. The suddenness, coupled with the relative sophistication of the earliest discovered carvngs, is strongly suggestive of an once insular society suddenly introduced to and influenced by outside cultures.
Jade, like gold after it, was not significant simply as an art medium or source of material wealth. It represented a tectonic change in culture itself.
It came to represent, in a historical blink-of-an-eye, man's changing view of himself and his spiritual relationship with the Devine.
And that, naturally, led on to a profound change in culture, not just in religious rituals but in material life as well.
Now, actually, the vast majority of the visitors who go to the museum haven't a clue aboutâ€"-or interest inâ€"-the role jade played in the evolution of culture more than 25 centuries ago. They simply enjoy the beauty and mystery of the green stone carvings.
Good for them!
One of those, the Costa Rica Jade Museum, is a have to see for visitors wanting to look back to the live and cultures of the people that came before us.
While most people doubtless think of a museum as a place where old things and art from past times are put on displayâ€"-and where one or two hours can be whiled away before having dinnerâ€"-the displays are much more.
A good museum has 2 characteristics:
- A single piece (or multiple pieces of an artist) of art like a carving, painting, or statue offers a glimpse back in time to the inventive soul of a particular artist while
- A collection of pieces from many people, representing disparate social groups, and covering an extended time period (typically measured in epochs or centuries), affords a chance to witness the development of a people's culture, religious rituals and material life.
This Costa Rica museum, found in the Naciona de Suguras or National Insurance Institute, houses the world's biggest collection of pre-Columbian jade, more than 6,000 pieces.
The appearance of Costa Rican jade carvings, about 600 B.C, coincided with a dramatic religious, material and cultural change in the country that lasted for almost 1,000 years until replaced by another seminal, seismic change when gold replaced jade.
While humans had lived in Costa Rica for perhaps 13,000-15,000 years, sophisticated jade carvings suddenly appeared on the scene during the course of only a few decades. The suddenness, coupled with the relative sophistication of the earliest discovered carvngs, is strongly suggestive of an once insular society suddenly introduced to and influenced by outside cultures.
Jade, like gold after it, was not significant simply as an art medium or source of material wealth. It represented a tectonic change in culture itself.
It came to represent, in a historical blink-of-an-eye, man's changing view of himself and his spiritual relationship with the Devine.
And that, naturally, led on to a profound change in culture, not just in religious rituals but in material life as well.
Now, actually, the vast majority of the visitors who go to the museum haven't a clue aboutâ€"-or interest inâ€"-the role jade played in the evolution of culture more than 25 centuries ago. They simply enjoy the beauty and mystery of the green stone carvings.
Good for them!
About the Author:
The author lives and writes his fun, well regarded, Costa Rica vacation guide, from his home in sunny Costa Rica.When visiting Costa Rica's capitol , put aside a few hours or a day to take in some of its art and culture like the Costa Rica Jade Museum.
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