One of numerous elaborate stained-glass windows inside Catedral Metropolitana.

Getty Images/Lonely Planet Images

Catedral Metropolitana

San José


East of Parque Central, the Renaissance-style Catedral Metropolitana was built in 1871 after the previous cathedral was destroyed in an earthquake. The graceful neoclassical interior has colorful Spanish-tile floors, stained-glass windows, and a Christ figure that was produced by a Guatemalan workshop in the late 17th century. On the north side of the nave, a recumbent Christ that dates back to 1878 draws devout Ticos, who arrive here to pray and deposit pleas scribbled on small slips of paper.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby San José attractions

1. Parque Central

0.06 MILES

The city’s central park is more of a run-down plaza than a park. At its center is a grandiose bandstand that looks as if it was designed by Mussolini:…

2. Teatro Melico Salazar

0.07 MILES

On the north side of Parque Central is this theatre, which was built in 1928 in a beaux-arts style. It is named after the well-known Costa Rican tenor…

3. Teatro Nacional

0.12 MILES

On the southern side of the Plaza de la Cultura resides the Teatro Nacional, San José’s most revered building. Constructed in 1897, it features a columned…

4. Plaza de la Cultura

0.13 MILES

This architecturally unremarkable concrete plaza in the heart of downtown is usually packed with locals slurping ice-cream cones and admiring the wide…

6. Mercado Central

0.27 MILES

Though josefinos mainly do their shopping at chain supermarkets, San José’s crowded indoor markets retain an old-world, authentic feel. This main market,…

8. Parque Morazán

0.3 MILES

Parque Morazán is named for Francisco Morazán, the 19th-century general who attempted to unite the Central American nations under a single flag (for his…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "costa-rica/san-jose/attractions/catedral-metropolitana/a/poi-sig/1190645/358357",
      "destination": "San-José",
      "continent": "Central-America",
      "country": "Costa-Rica",
      "city": "San-José",
      "position": "superzone"
    }