San Jose, capital city of Costa Rica

The city of San Jose is the capital of the Republic of Costa Rica as well of the province of San Jose. The city is the political and economic center of the country, collecting more than half of the trade and services from it. Can be considered culturally almost entirely influenced by the European culture because the Spanish immigration after its discovery by Christopher Columbus. This can be seen in the distribution of the town that grew around the current cathedral and later in the architecture of theaters, museums and houses of the inhabitants of the city center. San Jose receives this name in honor of Joseph of Nazareth.

Like others old cities of the country, of San Jose was founded on December 7, 1848. The town was born around 1737-1738, and has been the capital of Costa Rica on three occasions: in 1822, 1823 to 1834 and from 1838 to the present. This is a city with an interesting mix of history and modernity, although the central area is uninhabited and almost becomes a place of passage that brings together during the day to more than one million people, creating chaos and increasing levels of pollution and traffic problems. Despite its problems, according to studies in the field throughout Latin America, San Jose remains one of the safest cities and least violent of all Central America. In 2006 it was appointed as the Ibero-American Capital of Culture.

The territory occupied by San Jose is formed in the present day by a flat terrain with minor undulations, fertile, surrounded by mountains, streams and rivers that travel from east to west. The city sits in the heart of the so-called Central Valley to an average height of 1170 meters above sea level. The temperatures are mild, between 18 and 22 ° C. The rainy season, like the rest of the country is from May to November and precipitation accumulated over the year is around 2000 mm.
The city of San Jose has an area of 44.6 square kilometers. It is located in the northern province of the same name, limiting the north by the province of Heredia (specifically with the regions of Belen, Heredia and Santo Domingo), as well as with the regions of Tibás and Goicoechea; with Montes de Oca and Curridabat east, and with Desamparados, Alajuelita Escazú and south.

The city has several theaters and auditoriums among the most prominent: the National Theater, the Melico Salazar Theate, the National Auditorium of the Museum of Children, as well as other smaller theaters like Lucho Barahona, the Harlequin, and so on. The city also has several museums as the Museum of Children, the National Museum, the Museo de Oro, the Jade Museum, located in the INS, and the Museum of Contemporary Art. Among the attractions of San Jose, highlighting the many parks located in the city, including the National Park, the Morazan (where is located the Temple of Music), Central Park, the Peace Park or the Park Okayama among others. In the city there are also some major avenues, such as Central Avenue, the most important pedestrian route from the city.
Other interesting places in San Jose are the zoo Simón Bolívar, the Parque Nacional de Diversiones and a host of historic buildings like the Post Office building of Costa Rica, the former Soda Palace, the Casa Amarilla, the National Museum (Old Barracks Bellavista), the National Library Miguel Obregon Lizano and the church of La Merced.

San Jose became in March 2008 in a beautiful artistic place for 120 cows. For the first time in Central America, the successful international Cow Parade exhibition came to the capital of Costa Rica, reflecting the interesting cultural development.
The Cow Parade is an exhibition of fiberglass cows painted by artists and craftsmen. This activity was born in 1998 in Zurich with the aim of promoting the producers of milk and beef farmers and had such success that has been done in Mexico, France, Czech Republic, Spain, Hungary, the United States and Argentina, among other countries.
The Municipality of San Jose brings renowned exhibition to this country.
Subsequently, the artistic cows were auctioned and is expected to be located in different parts of the city.