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On the north side of the Parque Espana , three blocks northeast of the Plaza de la Cultura, rises one of the few office towers in San Jose: the INS, or Institute of Social Security, building. This uninspired edifice is home to one of the city's finest museums, the Marco Fidel Tristan Museo de Jade (Mon-Fri 8am-4pm; US$3), home to the world's largest collection of American jade, ingeniously displayed with subtle backlighting to show off the multi-coloured and multi-textured pieces to full effect. You'll see a lot of axe-gods : anthropomorphic bird/human forms shaped like an axe and worn as a pendant. One entire room is devoted to male fertility symbols, and you'll also see X-shaped objects used to support the breasts of women of standing - a kind of proto-bra. Incidentally, the view from the museum windows is one of the best in the city, taking in the sweep of San Jose from the centre to the south and then west to the mountains. Sprawling across the entire eastern border of the Parque Espana, the former National Liquor Factory (FANAL), dating from 1887, today houses the Centro Nacional de Cultura, home to the cutting-edge Museo de Arte y Diseno Contemporaneo (Tues-Sun 10am-5pm; US$2). The museum's cosmopolitan, multi-media approach features works by artists from across Latin America, alongside the work of Costa Ricans, and it's definitely worth a visit to see what's going on in the arts in the Americas. There's also a theatre in the complex - a wander around during the day may offer interesting glimpses of dancers and musicians rehearsing. Lurking on the second floor of a nondescript building on the corner of Av 1 and C 9, the Serpentario (Mon-Fri 9am-6pm; Sat & Sun 10am-5pm; US$4) is one of Costa Rica's most useful attractions, where aghast tourists and fascinated schoolboys wander amid glass cases of snakes, poison-dart frogs and the odd lizard. Species on display include the fer-de-lance, bushmaster and jumping and eyelash vipers, while a rather forlorn-looking Burmese python lies curled up in the biggest case. Heading one block south then one block east from the Sepentario brings you to the concrete Plaza de la Democracia , yet another of the city's soulless squares. Constructed in 1989 to mark President Oscar Arias' key involvement in the Central American Peace Plan, this expanse of terraced concrete slopes gently up towards a fountain and the impressive, fortress-like edifice of the Museo Nacional (Tues-Sat 8.30am-4.30pm, Sun 9am-4.30pm; US$2), home to the country's most important archeological exhibition. Highlights include petroglyphs, pre-Columbian stonework - the grinding tables and funerary offerings, in particular, show precise geometric patterns - and, in the Sala Arqueologica , wonderful anthropomorphic gold figures.
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