Been There – San José

Starbucks Been There – San José is the mug for the capital and largest city of Costa Rica. The architecture was chosen as the main motive of the design. Here’s what I was able to identify:
– There is a statue of León Cortés Castro on the side of the mug. He served as President of Costa Rica from 1936 to 1940. He is remembered for introducing important bank and agrarian reforms. His construction projects include the former International Airport of La Sabana. Leon Cortes’s statue is now placed in front of that airport, which later was converted into Costa Rica Art Museum.
– The National Theatre of Costa Rica was built between 1891 and 1897 (side of the mug, just behind the statue). It is considered a nice example of the Neo-classical architecture of the city. The interior of the theatre is worth the visit on its own.
– The pink building on the front of the mug is the National Museum where you can see collections of the pre-Columbian, colonial and recent history of the country. Interesting enough it is former Bellavista Headquarters. It is exactly the place, where the military of the country was abolished in 1948 after the Costa Rican Civil War. The country has no army since except the Public Force of Costa Rica which performs policing and border patrol functions.
– Costa Rican Center of Science and Culture (the back of the mug) was converted from the old central jail. It seems that Costa Ricans like to reuse buildings to serve a better purpose. The center consists of a number of facilities, including the National Auditorium, the Museo de los Niños (Children’s museum), and the National Gallery.