Museo del Oro Precolombino

Overview of the collections

The Museo del Oro Precolombino in the capital San José is - next to the National Museum - the most important museum in the Central American state of Costa Rica . It also houses a numismatic department .

location

The museum is located in an underground part of the Banco Central de Costa Rica at the Plaza de la Cultura in the center of the 1160 m high city of San José.

history

The museum, founded in 1950, was initially located in the main building of the Banco Central de Costa Rica . The new building was inaugurated in 1982.

Collections

Pre-Columbian era

The museum forms the framework for the finds of the Diquís culture , the most important pre-Columbian culture in the country. It has not yet been conclusively clarified whether the approx. 4000 archived stone, ceramic and gold finds can all be attributed to the same cultural epoch - a rough date for the approx. 1600 gold objects alone indicates the period from approx. 500 to 1500 AD.