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On October 30th, 1924, the Congress of the Republic of Costa Rica adopted the Law No. 12 which created a monopoly on insurance in favor of the State, giving the name of Insurance National Bank, and 24 years later, changed its name to the National Insurance Institute (INS in Spanish). This institution aims to provide protection and service to the people 
of Costa Rica.
In the seventies, the National Insurance Institute faced the situation of relentless stealing and commercialization of archaeological objects, both inside and outside the national territory, so the museum acquired artifacts from collectors by purchase and in a few cases, by donation. By then, the INS had made up its objects collection from pre-Columbian times to approximately 7000 pieces of various materials such as jade, ceramics, stone, gold, shell, wood, resin, bone and others. For these acquisitions and for historical reasons it prevailing the aesthetic in contrast to the daily. On October 31st, 1977, the INS opened the Museum under the name “Archaeological Collection of the National Insurance Institute”, and then in 1980 with the agreement of the XI Session of 6556 the current Directorate, renamed by the current Jade Museum (Museo del Jade).
Following the failure to restructure a lost cause for the non-scientific excavation methods, the Jade Museum was given the task of promoting research projects, in order to ascertain, if possible, through the association of scientifically excavated objects. These investigations have made in fields such as: anthropological, archaeological, geologist, artist and ethno-musical.
The Jade Museum, with over twenty years of operation has enabled thousands of nationals and foreign visitors to visit their exhibition halls, taking the opportunity to admire one of the richest collections of American institutions. The variety of its collection, consisting of four collections, archeology, art, ethnography, 
numismatics and it reflects one of the objectives of the INS, to generate a social contribution, through registration, documentation and exhibits shows.
For more than quarter of a century, the cultural heritage that guards the museum, has served as ambassador to Costa Rica, as part of international exhibitions displayed in different cities in America, Europe and Asia. The high quality of the art collection is reflected for instance in the significant number of works by renowned Costa Rican artists, representing various periods of the national plastic production, which on many occasions have been given on loan to exhibition and research.
Similarly, the Jade Museum throughout these years has facilitated its showrooms, both to publicize the product of national and international artists as the exhibition shows related a wide range of subjects like history, science, technology and other topics related to human activity. Today is the only existing museum of pre-Columbian jade, with the largest collection in this exhibition, because this archaeological museum shows not only jade objects but valuable pieces carved in stone and ceramics of high artistic quality. The museum is located on the first floor of the National Insurance Institute of Costa Rica.
Address: 7th and 9th Avenue, 9th and 11th St., at the INS building in San José, Costa Rica
GPS Coordinates: 9.936456,-84.073833 (9°56’11.24″N, 84°4’25.80″W)
Schedule: from Monday through Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Website: www.portal.ins-cr.com/Social/MuseoJade
Phone: + (506) 2287-6034
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