Pre-Columbian Gold Museum in Puerto Limon

This is one of three national-level museums that provide insight into the history, politics, art and life of the early peoples in Costa Rica. The real value here is not in the gold bullion, but in the artistry and complex life before the European conquests. Three museums are combined in this modern underground building. Be sure to also visit the "National Museum" five short blocks down Av. Central.

With Greenway Nature Day Tours, we visited the “Pre-Columbian Gold Museum.” We learned, from our tour guide, Alberto (Betofrom Greenway Nature Day Tours, about the indigenous people from Costa Rica and how they made things out of gold. It was nice to see what the indigenous people made, I’m sure it took them along time to make these things that still exist today. I really enjoyed the video from the indigenous people and how some of the tribes have lost the indigenous language. This tour was very informative and let me know more about Costa Rica before Columbus/Spain had arrived.

Well worth the trip! Beautiful museum. Great information and layout. Very close to the Central Market as well so you can get to them both.

Very cool museum in downturn that hast a vast collection of precolombian gold on display as well as coins from the history of Costa Rica

Awesome place to learn and see some great history. It takes about 1 hour to wall thru at a faster pace. But overall fun and very informative

Very interactive great knowledge on indigenous communities but lacks more diversity of indigenous communities

Great organization of exhibits. Great information. Amazing artifacts. I learned a lot about Costa Rican and Central American history.

I felt that while the museum was lovely, it was a little overpriced for tourists. There are three levels - the basement is the gold, the second level has a geography exhibit, and the main level currently has an exhibit about coins. Ive been to other gold museums in Latin America and this one was relatively similar, though there were quite a lot of unique pieces that i admit i had never seen in other similar museums. The geographical exhibit was interesting but can be skipped through relatively quickly (i did appreciate all the signage in English). The coins exhibit will only be interesting to you if youre into the history of coins. Personally i liked it but did find it a little repetitive. Overall - good activity to do if you find yourself in downtown San Jose with some free time to kill but not necessarily a must see.

It was interesting, but I thought it was a bit overpriced. The best part for me was seeing the history of the currency.

Decent place to see objects of the past in relation to Costa Rica. If you get in as part of a tour package, it is worth it..otherwise too pricey for wat it is.

Excellent collection of pre-Columbian gold artifacts. The presentation bilingual was good but lacked some historic context and critical examination of the tragic destruction of native cultures by European plundering.

Great collection of gold and other pre-Colombian objects. All explanations in Spanish and English. Some interactive displays. I enjoyed the hearing the indigenous languages and learning a little of their world view. Also has a temporary cartography exhibit, and an interesting small numismatic collection about Costa Rica.

We really enjoyed the numismatic and cartography portions of this museum. The placards and displays were very informative, even for someone who is not familiar with coins. The pre-Colombian gold portion was, unfortunately, a little repetitive. The displays were still nice.

This is an incredible collection of pre-Columbian gold art. The Spaniards stole every bit of gold the could find and killed many indigenous people with forced labor in mines. But they didnt get it all, they didnt check graves. In my opinion this is absolutely the must see sight in San Jose. In addition to the gold pieces their is a reconstruction of an indigenous village and life size figures showing different aspects of indigenous life.

The pre-Columbian displays make this museum worthwhile. The artistic displays also make it worthwhile.

Quite an interesting and beautiful collection of jewelry and artifacts from before those greedy Europeans ravaged the land. I loved learning about the history of our coins and maps, all in one place. I do feel I need to mention that some of the text translations to English should have been proofread a bit more before being posted, and that the lettering displays on walls and glass require a bit more up keeping since some letters were missing altogether. Other than that I fully recommend nationals (¢2500 and free for 65+and foreigners ($15to stop by.

Jewelry on Steroids! Loved it, and loved the historical information. There were people at every level to answer questions and add information as well

Very cool museum to spend a few hours in. Price was quite high for the size of the exhibition ($15and it annoys me when foreigners pay more, but oh well. I really liked the maps and history section about Central America and how its changed over the years. The highlight is obviously the Pre Columbian exhibition which has some amazing gold artefacts, I would have liked to have learned more about the pre-columbian culture and the journey of how humans arrived in the americas. I really liked the video about the different indigenous cultures within CA, I would have liked to have learned more about this.

The history of money in the region was pretty interesting, but its the first musuem Ive seen that glorifies colonization As an extermination of a brutal civilization. There are a lot of Eurocentric fallacies such as daily practices of eating human flesh by indigenous people. A lot of whats documented and taught in this museum is simply an example of a biased history written by the victors against the opresssed. When you look at the culture of the nation, this may provide insight as to why the theres a much smaller and segregated population of afro Latino versus other places in central america.

Self guided tour of the indigenous peoples impact on he culture of Costa Rican history. Impressive exhibits of gold jewelry and talismans that were worn. Also, a nice display of coins from various European and domestic periods in Costa Rica history. Very nice and informative staff. The whole museum is underground. Its really unique.

On my first visit to Costa Rica on the last day I wanted to do one more thing. The nice young lady at the front desk recommended a city tour. Normally I don’t do this but she said I would not regret it. She was right. What a magnificent museum.

An alright place to spend some hours. The staff are very friendly and knowledgeable. There are several different expeditions and the buildings gotta lot of concrete which is cool

Very educational, there is a lot of reading for the entire 3 levels. Learning about metallurgy, maps, and about the tribes was fascinating. The building its in is also fantastic.

Just a jewel..Workers are just wonderful makes you proud of being Costa Rican..One little thing I noticed...there is a gold pendant and in the description ir said..Alligator gold pendant ...There are no Alligators in Costa Rica ..just caiman and crocodiles..

What a stunning museum! Large spacious galleries with artefacts beautifully presented. The gold art work was very thin, delicate and some very tiny ! Over 3 floors this museum really captures the essence of the role of gold in pre-Columbian history. I particularly adored the tiny figurines which were so delicately moulded. Great location right next to the theatre. Very easy to find !

Interesting gold museum and good expositions!

Fascinating little exhibit. 3 floors underground in old bank vaults. Great activity for an hour or 2, especially on Sundays when the mercado is closed. We really enjoyed this museum!

Amazing collection brilliantly displayed. Budget an hour to drool over tha craftsmanship and take home an authentic reproduction from the museum store as a memento.

Get a guide if you can find one. This museum is one of the national treasures of Costa Rica. Amazing gold and pottery artifacts to see. I went twice in one week. On my first visit, I happened to join a small group that had an English speaking guide. He added endless value to the visit explaining details of the native culture and the methods they used to make such amazing objects. I went back again and asked for a guide, but they said none worked for the museum. If you can find a guide, do it. The museum does not provide many details about the exhibits so you just get to see beautiful objects, but minimal cultural details or background.

Im not really a museum kind of guy, but I enjoyed this one. Good commentary signs in both Spanish and English. Not a large museum, but you can still spend some time here. Fun fact, the only underground building in San José. This museum can be bought as a three museum package.

This was a beautiful museum!! So interesting, lots of context, and great exhibits. There was a nice modern art exhibit in the temporary space as well. We loved the video showing how modern Costa Rican people are keeping their tribes alive. We also loved the small exhibition on coins on the first floor! Very enjoyable!

In Underground vaults, you see intricately carved gold amulets, bracelets, etc some worn by realistically rendered models of indigenous people. Upper level also includes beautiful originals of notable Costa Rican artists.

Small museum (formerly a bank vaultwith well displayed/explained items. Takes about 90 minutes to go through all the exhibits in details.

The museum displays not only the gold but also art objects from 1970s, the rise at alternative view of paintings and sculptures. It’s a nice dive into nation history both in pre-Columbian and modern times.

Well curated, beautifully displayed items, interesting subject matter that elucidates us all as to the wonder of early metal work, through the mystery and celebration of gold. Some great art from celebrated globally renowned artists such as Vargas, Rivera, Gonzales, etc. Worth a visit. $13 per person each. Free lockers. Beneath the Museo Nacional, Plaza Cultura.

Gold museum > Jade Museum! Go here instead youll enjoy it better than the Jade Museum.

Nice, clean, safe, interesting museums about Costa Rican history. The most important is a marvelous gold museum, unique in Central America, showing spectacular gold objects from pre-columbian societies.

Definitely worth the $9 to get in! Multiple levels of artifacts to keep you busy for hours.

Amazing building under the town square, well made exhibition, can be covered in under 1 hour.

Very beautiful space and the exhibits are well identified. New art exhibition was not yet open, would have liked to see. I really liked the gallery with currency.

Very nice museum and great place to escape the heat. It is possible to buy 1 ticket to visit 3 museums, the gold museum, the national museum and the jade museum.It was very quiet inside and the displays were nice and bright. All information was in both Spanish and English.Besides the static displays there were also some interactive displays as well as video and audio.The museum shop was rather small and focusses on gold jewelry and books.

An amazing collection of gold artefacts from the various native people. Displays also include narratives about cultures and beliefs and the mythology behind many of the charms and amulets. Other displays within the museum also include the history of Costa Rican currency with separate sections dealing with bank notes and coins. Interesting place.

Nice museum but national museum does it better. If you are a coin collector I think you will appreciate it more then I did.Also when I was there there was a renovation going on.But I liked the buildning it was kinda cool.

They have a great collection of pre-columbian gold jewelry and artifacts right now they are renewing the exposition off-brand Colombian gold and pottery exhibition

The Precolombian Gold Museum is one of the best museums at San José, Costa Rica

This museum includes the gold, coin/bill, and other art collections of the Banco Central (Central Bank), and its housed below street level, at Plaza de la Cultura, which made it confusing to find at first. Its worth a visit and the entrance is very affordable. I particularly loved the Coin exhibit, and listening to the engaged guide/security person who was clearly doing the perfect job, as he was a history buff. Also the museum store, while small, was lovely.

A must ! If you are interested in archeology and precolumbian art. Situated in the heart of the city it is easy to find at plaza de los culturas Just beside the old national theater (which is worth to visit as well,I spent more than two hours at the Museum - descriptions are in Spanish and English. Fred/Switzerland

Very nice museum, somewhat small but still very informative and very nice overall

The cottage Rica gold museum a bit expensive considering youll see it in less than an hour but just the building is well worth it, if you are into architecture its beautiful and well designed, their exhibits are a little bit poor in content but theyre interesting.

Museum about money and gold history in Costa Rica. The interior design is very delightful. The building includes three stories. The variety of golden arts in different size are amazing.