Travel to Costa Rica – Museo del Jade

It’s a quiet Semana Santa (Holy Week) here in Costa Rica, with the majority of the locals at the beach, so I took the opportunity to visit the Jade Museum (Museo del Jade).

As luck would have it, I was one of the few visitors that day, so with five floors of artifacts to explore, I nearly had the place to myself.

There are over 7,000 artifacts on display at the museum.

The Museo del Jade is dedicated to preserving the archaeological heritage of this beautiful region, and features the largest collection of pre-Columbian jade artifacts in the entire world.

So, if you love jade and Pre-Columbian history, the Museo del Jade is the place to go.

There are over 7,000 items on display in this absolutely beautiful museum, most dating between 500 BC and 300 BC. What really surprised me was how much care and beauty they wove into the creations.

Just to think that as far back as history goes, humans had a desire to bring beauty into even ordinary objects says a lot about our natures.

According to the museum’s website, their objectives are to:

• Foster scientific study in the archaeologic field
• Preserve part of the archaeological and artistic heritage of the country
• Stimulate the artistic development of the Fine Arts
• Serve as a body for cultural outreach to the community from the Institute

Thousands of visitors, national and foreign alike, have visited the exhibition rooms for the past 38 years, enjoying the opportunity to admire one of the richest institutional collections of America.

There are six collections on permanent display: The Threshold, The Jade, The Day, The Night, Memory, and Collection. They also have temporary exhibitions throughout the year.

You can enjoy a virtual tour of the museum here.

I won’t wait to give you my rating of this museum, because I loved it that much. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

It might have been because of the pandemic, or maybe because of the Easter holiday week, but I didn’t see any café or restaurant in the museum, which would have be nice to have since it’s a large museum and can take hours to view everything.

I also wish the gift shop had more items. I’m a sucker for a museum gift shop and was disappointed I wasn’t tempted to spend more money than I did.

Jade Jewelry at The Jade Museum in Costa Rica

Jade is a beautiful stone that comes in colors ranging from white to green.

The stone was used in jewelry, as well as artwork, for ornamentation and frequently showed one’s status and emphasized religious or shamanic rituals.

Jade got its name from the Spanish expression “piedra de ijada”, which literally translates to “stone of the pain in the side”.

Early Spanish explorers saw natives holding pieces of jade to their sides to help to cure and relieve their aches and pains, so the name was attributed to this.

Figurines at The Jade Museum in Costa Rica

Figurines at The Jade Museum in Costa Rica

I hope you enjoyed the images of the amazing artifacts found at the Jade Museum in Costa Rica. Be sure to add the museum to your bucket list. Costa Rica is so much more than just beaches.

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