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The Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress opened in 2003 in a strategic location from downtown San Jose. It occupies one side of the historic Plaza de la Democracia (Democracy Square), which is located between the Legislature and the National Museum, near to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the National Park and the Supreme Court. La Plaza de la Democracia was built to commemorate the democratic regime life of the first century in Costa Rica 
and the Hemispheric Summit of Presidents held in 1989 by the then Costa Rican president Dr. Oscar Arias Sánchez, to move the regional peace process.
The Peace Museum (Museo para la Paz) purpose in to contributing to a culture of dialogue, consensus and reconciliation and focuses on the concept of peace not as the absence of armed conflict or violence, but as human progress, both, individual and collective, material and spiritual. It is open to the general public and researchers, in a two-storey building that offers invaluable documentary on the Esquipulas II process of negotiation and peace agreements and its impact on local and international press.
On the first floor is an exhibition on the institutional trajectory of the Arias Foundation and its main objectives and achievements, and shows a replica of the Nobel Peace Prize medal awarded to Dr. Arias Sánchez. The cinema includes a photo essay on the Nobel awards centenary made by the renowned photographer Michelle Pelletier. The second floor is a museum exhibit that aims to reconstruct the history of Central America and the Peace Plan from an educational and informative approach accessible to visitors. The exhibition on the evolution of the peace process comes from the historical development of Central America and their geographical, social, political, economic and cultural rights, which ensure a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon that triggered the military uprising and civil war, as well as the actors and geopolitical conflict at the Cold War.
The museum covers the Central America history and focuses on the 1980′s and the political and military conflict in the region. In addition, the museum offers a guide to students and teachers to understanding the peace process in Central America, which suffered decades of bitter experience of fratricidal wars. Various efforts were made to end armed conflicts: one of the first was the establishment of the so-called “Grupo de Contadora” (Accountant Group), composed in 1983 by México, Panamá, Colombia and Venezuela. This will prepare a draft agreement accepted by Nicaragua in 1984. This group was followed by the Support Group, formed by the governments of Argentina, Brazil, Perú and Uruguay.
In 1986 began the presidents meetings of the region and negotiations progressed until the momentous meeting in Guatemala City on August 7th, 1987, where was the signing of the Esquipulas II Accord that triggered the peace process. Most of the documentary and historical materials of the Peace Museum are available now in digital format. Visitors and researchers have a digital catalog of publications of the Arias Foundation and the works available on the Peace Plan, as well as an electronic information and documentation on international coverage of the Central American process.
Address: 2nd Avenue, 13th St., in San José, Costa Rica.
GPS Coordinates: 9.932556,-84.073086 (9°55’57.20″N, 84°04’23.11″W)
Schedule: from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Website: www.arias.or.cr
Phone: + (506) 2257-5011
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