Let the Gold Museum’s new contents, interactive resources, and museography bedazzle you!

The Pre-Columbian Gold Museum—located under Plaza de la Cultura—will undergo renovation starting June 18. The project seeks to include the latest archaeological findings, update the museographic design, and arouse a more interactive experience in the visitors. The renovation will extend until its expected re-opening in November.

Visitors may still enjoy its pre-Columbian gold, ceramic, and stone heritage in its alternative exhibition, Beyond the Objects, which will open in a different Museum gallery starting July 6 and until September 6.

The Numismatics Museum exhibition, titled Banknotes: From Paper Money to Banknotes in Costa Rica—opening in the near future—will continue to be open to the public.

The admission fee for both regular and student international visitors will be reduced to $7 and $5 respectively from June 18 to July 6 , and to $9 and $7 from July 6 to November. The admission fee for local visitors will be reduced to ¢1000 (a 50% discount) throughout the renovation.

The Museums will remain closed on MONDAYS throughout the renovation.

 New Ways of Connecting With Our Origins

This new proposal delves into the archaeological findings and interpretations, allowing visitors to connect with pre-Columbian populations and their heritage by addressing it from different thematic points of view. 

The public will be able to discover interesting aspects on the lives of our ancestors, such as their role as hunters of megafauna, their first agricultural endeavors, their ample knowledge stemming from their relationship with nature, and their ability to create new technologies and specialize in them.

Throughout the tour, they will also come to know more on their daily life and ritual practices, their social organization, the rise of spiritual and political leaders, their views on gender, and their beliefs on life and death.

Although pre-Columbian metalworking techniques will continue to be the main theme, the new museum will expand the information on the development of metalwork in other zones of America currently known as Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, or Panama. 

This in addition to more details on the metalcraft finishing and decorative techniques, and a special section for stone and ceramic objects preceding metalwork.

One of the most important updates in the new museum is the opportunity the visitor will get to further knowledge on the symbolism of animal and human representations in gold, whose designs refer to spiritual powers or functions associated with animals or shamanic transformation processes.

The renovation will include roughly 789 gold, ceramic, and stone objects, some of which have never been on display before. Due to their design or symbolism, the extraordinary gold objects will be especially showcased to ensure visitors do not miss them as they tour the museum.

 Technology for the Senses

The new Pre-Columbian Gold Museum will have a series of interactive resources to stimulate learning by engaging various senses.

These resources will allow the public to listen to indigenous narrations, be transported back to pre-Columbian life with augmented reality animations, or travel to different parts of the universe represented in the Talamanca cone-shaped house, created by a large circular projection.

In order to bring to light the cultural diversity of the eight indigenous groups currently in Costa Rica, a documentary will be screened in a small audiovisual room dealing with a series of indigenous testimonials expressing their views on territoriality, language, tradition, family structure, education, productive and economic development, among other aspects of their daily life.

The feature will be complemented by replicas of pre-Columbian objects that can be seen and touched, as well as illustrations, infographics, videos on artisan techniques, and a totally new space dedicated to raising awareness on material heritage conservation.

The content and educational stations will be arrayed within a space displaying new museography geared at promoting a more seamless, forthright visit with varying levels of information according to the degree of detail a visitor may feel comfortable with. Additionally, it will put the architectural facility housing the Museums in display.