Costa Rica is getting two new museum facilities, and both are a long time in coming.

Inaugurated Thursday in Pavas was a research center for the Museo Nacional. The new location is in a former bank storage building. Purchased in 1997, the 3,000 square meter structure will house the museum's central archives, temperature controlled storage areas for artifacts and several other departments.

In San Vicente de Nicoya, the Asociación Ecomuseo de la Artesanía Chorotega de San Vicente de Nicoya Saturday will inaugurate its new facility, conceived by two U.S. Peace Corp volunteers and put up with help from the Museo Nacional.

The community is on the old road to Santa Cruz some 19 kms (12 miles) from Nicoya. About half of the 600 to 650 residents make their living with ceramics, said the Ministerio de Cultural, Juventud y Deportes. The ceramics are in the ancient style that existed 3,500 years before the Spanish arrival. Some of the residents are descendants of the early artists.

Officials of the Ecomuseo in San Vicente credit Aaron Hirt, a Peace Corps volunteer, for getting the museum rolling some 15 years ago and Karen Belerowit, another volunteer, for identifying sources of funds to construct the building.

The first exhibit, which runs until November is "Herencia de barro: Artesanos mayores de San Vicente."

Museum officials say they need some 15 million colons more (about $29,000) to air condition the structure and construct more space and workshops.
 

Asociación Ecomuseo de la
Artesanía Chorotega photo

Traditional Chorotega ceramics and the oven in which they were finished.

The Museo Nacional will not be moving from its main location in the Bellavista fortress in downtown San José. The new Pavas facility is in addition to the current site, which is long of exhibit space but short on offices and research areas. The new facility also will enable museum workers to develop exhibits for mounting at the Bellavista location, said officials.

Departments moving to the new Pavas location are Protección del Patrimonio, Antropología e Historia and the Programa de Museos Regionales y Comunitarios, museum officials said. The Museo Nacional purchased the structure in 1997 but remodeling was not competed until this year