The Jade Museum

Costa Rica has no jade deposits, which is the first puzzle: the several thousand pieces here were worked from stone traded up from Guatemala over centuries, ground and drilled with string, sand and water into pendants, axe-god figures and beads of extraordinary refinement. The museum holds the largest such collection in the Americas and moved in 2014 into a purpose-built black cube on the Plaza de la Democracia, windowless by design, with the display arranged thematically across five floors and lit so the translucency of the stone shows. Ceramics, gold and stone sculpture fill the rest, along with a section on how the pieces were made without metal tools.

What you actually see

• The axe-god pendants - the distinctive Costa Rican jade form.
• The making techniques - string, sand and water instead of metal tools.
• The lighting - designed to show the stone's translucency.
• The ceramics and stone sculpture - alongside the jade collection.

When to go

Year-round; open daily including weekends, which is unusual for San José museums. Mornings are quietest. Allow two hours minimum. The building is air-conditioned and windowless, which makes it a good hot-afternoon option.

Honest expectations

It is a large collection of small objects and can be tiring; the fifth floor in particular repeats themes. Labels are bilingual but uneven. It is expensive by Costa Rican museum standards. The Plaza de la Democracia outside is fine by day but the area needs ordinary caution after dark.

Nearby

The National Museum is across the plaza; the gold museum is five minutes west.