Costa Rica‘s Artistic Heritage Under Attack: A History of โคDestruction
A waveโ of destruction โcontinues to plague Costa Rica’s public art,โข echoing a troubling โpattern of loss stretching back centuries. From aโ 19th-century fountain to a beloved modernโ sculpture, โworks by prominent Costa Rican artists are falling victim to apathy, ignorance, and even direct orders – raising questions aboutโ the nation’sโข commitment to preserving its culturalโค identity.
The destructionโค isn’t new. In 1975,โ a monumental workโข by Josรฉ Sancho in la โChacarita, Puntarenas, was lostโค due to municipal neglect. More recently, in โ2023, โขthe Municipality of Heredia demolished aโข calicanto niche of the old โคFountain of Neptune, originally built by Fadrique Gutiรฉrrez in the 19th century, following an order from the National Instituteโ of Learning.
The fragility of outdoor art is also a factor. murals by Francisco Munguรญa, โคpainted with industrial materials on often-unprepared surfaces, suffer premature deterioration,โฃ as seen with his 2004 Carnival of the โarts mural in the Calvo Cemetery. However,public institutions โขshare responsibilityโ for preservation.
Instances of accidental โฃdamage have sometimes been addressed. Following โขa 2018 car โฃaccident โฃthat partially destroyed Monument to Social Guarantees,the Ministry of Public โขWorks โขcommissioned a โฃrestoration by โฃthe Renoir company,with artist โขOlgerโฃ Villegasโ intervening to save theโ work.
Yet, purposeful erasure continues.Inโค 2018, murals by Spanish painter Monfortโ (with assistance from Manuel Argรผello) โwere discovered hidden under layers of paint in the Immaculateโ Conception ofโค Heredia church, victims of careless repainting. Most recently,โค in 2024, the sculpture Winged Cow by โขรngel lara Vargas, located in front of the Children’s Hospital, was destroyed with tools – a demolition attributed to a contractor and his team. As one observer noted, echoing โฃa classic Spanish โplay, “Who destroyed the work? Fuenteovejuna, sir. โขWho isโ Fuenteovejuna? โฃAll the โขpeople together.”
This pattern mirrors historical acts of destruction, such as the destructionโ of sculptures in 1878 in what was then Villa Vieja de la Concepciรณnโ de Todos los โSantosโ de โcubujuquรญ, driven by fanaticism. Today, the motivation appearsโฃ to โbe ignorance, but the resultโค remains the same: a diminishing of Costa Rica’s artistic legacy.