Day 16 - February 12, 2011

Our last day in San Jose started with a trip to the Museo de Arte Costarricense (Museum of Costa Rican Art).  This museum was built in 1940 as an international airport terminal and turned into a museum in 1978. The collection contains more than 6,400 works of art from the end of the 19th century to today, of course not all are exhibited.

The first area we viewed was the beautiful sculpture garden which opened in 2003, with views of the Parque La Sabana.

We then viewed the permanent collection and special exhibits.

Lastly we went to the Gold Room. This room used to be the diplomatic lounge in the airport. Luis Féron Parizot (1901-1998), French sculptor and silversmith based in Costa Rica, was responsible for the creation of the mural that adorns the walls of the Golden Hall. The work of 1940, is a bas-relief in stucco (plaster-based formula), carved and painted bronze. In an area of 150 square meters, the mural summarizes the history of Costa Rica from pre-Columbian times to the 1940. It is very interesting and certainly difficult to capture in photographs.

We walked back through the Parque La Sabana with its beautiful trees, trails, soccer fields and the new soccer stadium built by the Chinese government. We admired the "Barkless Trees".

We had a wonderful home cooked dinner with Rosa and her friends and looked at pictures of the boys when they were young.