San José, Costa Rica

The Metropolitan Cathedral of San José Spanish: Catedral Metropolitana is a cathedral in San José, Costa Rica, located on Calle Central and Avenues 2 and 4. The original cathedral was built in 1802 but was destroyed by an earthquake.

The Archdiocese of San José de Costa Rica is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Costa Rica. A metropolitan see, there are seven suffragan dioceses in its ecclesiastical province: the Diocese of Alajuela, Cartago, Ciudad Quesada, Limón, Puntarenas, San Isidro de El General, and Tilarán. Erected on 28 February 1850, the Diocese of San José de Costa Rica was elevated to an archdiocese on 16 February 1921. It is the sole archdiocese in Costa Rica.

The Gran Hotel is a hotel in San José, Costa Rica. It was built in 1930 and is a historic monument in the city. Its address is Central and Second Avenue between First and Third Streets. It's located next to the National Theater and the Plaza de la Cultura, under which lies the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum. There is a casino in the lobby and a cafe on the patio, which is noted for its marimba performances.

San José Central Market (Spanish: Mercado central) is the largest market of the city of San José, Costa Rica. Established in 1880, it occupies an entire block on Avenida Central, 250m northwest of the Parque Central. The market contains a complex of narrow alleys with over 200 shops, stalls, and cheap restaurants called sodas. A huge range of meats, fish, fruits, vegetables, coffees, and other products are for sale including snakeskin boots and cowboy saddles, herbal remedies, flowers, cooked meals, souvenirs, and local handcrafts. Tens of thousands of people visit the market daily.Two blocks to the north is the Mercado Borbón, which specialises in food, with numerous butchers, fishmongers, and fruit vendors located there.

The Greater Metropolitan Area of Costa Rica, (Spanish: Gran Área Metropolitana, GAM) is the largest urban agglomeration in Costa Rica, comprising areas of high population density surrounding the capital, San José, which geographically corresponds to the Central Valley and extended to include the Guarco Valley, where some of the cantons of the Cartago province are located. The proper definition and delimitation corresponds to the National Institute of Statistics and Census of Costa Rica (INEC) and could vary over time. According to the last census, the GAM has a population of 3.1 million inhabitants (about 60% of the population) in an area of 2,044 km² (just around 3.84% of the area Costa Rica ).

The 1,140-seat National Theatre of Costa Rica (Spanish: Teatro Nacional de Costa Rica) is Costa Rica's national theatre, located in the central section of San José. Construction began in 1891, and it opened to the public on 21 October 1897 with a performance of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust. The National Theatre stood as a cultural asset of the country during a time when coffee exports were a source of its success. It presents high quality performances, with artistic criteria being very high. The building is considered the finest historic building in the capital, and it is known for its exquisite interior which includes its lavish furnishings.

The Edificio Herdocia is a four-story property located in San Jose, Costa Rica. It was built in 1945 by Catalan architect Luis Llach Llagostera. It is located on the corner of 2nd Street and Avenue 3 of the Central American capital, north of the Edificio Correos, with which it forms one of the most recognized architectural ensembles of the Josefino neighborhood. Its architectural style combines art deco with neoclassical. Considered to be of great beauty and historical value, was declared a Historical Architectural Heritage of Costa Rica in February 2000. Its name comes from Carmen Herdocia Rojas, who was its first owner.

The Pre-Columbian Gold Museum (Spanish: Museo del Oro Precolombino, officially Spanish: Museo de Oro Precolombino Álvaro Vargas Echeverría) is a museum in San José, Costa Rica. It is located in a subterranean building underneath the "Plaza de la Cultura" and is owned and curated by the Banco Central de Costa Rica. The museum has an archaeological collection of 3,567 Pre-Columbian artifacts made up of 1,922 ceramic pieces, 1,586 gold objects, 46 stone objects, 4 jade, and 9 glass or bead objects. The gold collection dates from 300 to 400 BC to 1550 AD. The collection includes animal (notably frogs, eagles, jaguars, alligators, deers) figurines, amulets, earrings, erotic statuettes and several dioramas including El Guerrero, a life sized gold warrior figure adorned with gold ornaments in a glass case and a detailed scale model of a Pre-Columbian village. There is also a replica of a pre-Columbian grave containing 88 gold objects which was unearthed on a banana plantation in southeastern Costa Rica in the 1950s. In Costa Rican history, gold was considered a symbol of authority and the items are testament to the craftmanship of the Pre-Columbian period.The Museo Numismático (National Coin Museum) is also located in the same building on the ground level and features displays dating back to 1236, including coins, banknotes and unofficial items such as coffee tokens. The "Casa de Moneda" is also located on the ground level with information on the history of minting in Costa Rica and displays illustrating its development. The collection includes Costa Rica's first coin, the Media Escudo which was minted in 1825.

The Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil (DGAC), in English the General Directorate of Civil Aviation, is the civil aviation authority of Costa Rica. It oversees all aspects of civil aviation operations and infrastructure within the country. The body was created by law on 26 October 1949. Its headquarters are in San José.As of March 2012, the Director-General was Jorge Fernández Chacón, seconded by the Deputy Director-General, Alvaro Vargas Segura.The agency investigates any aviation accidents and incidents that occur in Costa Rica.

The radiotherapy accident in Costa Rica occurred with the Alcyon II radiotherapy unit at San Juan de Dios Hospital in San José, Costa Rica. It was related to a cobalt-60 source that was being used for radiotherapy in 1996. An accidental overexposure of radiotherapy patients treated during August and September 1996 was detected. During the calibration process done after the change of 60Co source on 22 August 1996, a mistake was made in calculating the dose rate, leading to severe overexposure of patients. The error of calibration was detected on 27 December 1997. In the course of the accident, 114 patients received an overdose of radiation and 13 died of radiation-related injuries.In 2001, the radiophysicist whose mistake caused the radiation overdoses was charged with 16 culpable homicides and sentenced to six years in prison.

Hospital Clínica Bíblica is a hospital in San José, Costa Rica. The Clínica Bíblica Hospital is the largest private hospital of Costa Rica, founded in 1929.

Paseo de los Estudiantes ("Students Walkway" in English) is an urban area in San José, Costa Rica, the capital of Costa Rica. The area began to develop as a commercial center during the last decades of the twentieth century, basically with the advent of supermarkets, shops and some restaurants whose owners are Chinese.