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The Popular Culture Museum (Museo de Cultura Popular de la Universidad Nacional) is located in Santa Lucia of Barva in Heredia. Inaugurated in 1994, thanks to the academic activities in research and extension of the Social Sciences Faculty at the National University, specifically the History and Sociology School, whose purpose was to implement the Costa Rica Society-University link, which was based on the study of Costa Rican traditions and customs, conceptualized as culture components, in a dynamic way, with the potential to transform the past in 
light of the needs and challenges of the present.
The museum aims to benefit communities through individual’s carriers of cultural traditions, through the implementation of actions seeking the enhancement of the heritage and the responsible use, since they work is directed toward developing the themes of heritage such as dance, meals, daily tasks and festivals, among others. The school records for study, preservation and revitalization those cultural practices related to a “lifestyle”, characteristic of the time, and were significant in the construction of the “Costa Rican” imaginary.
Equally interested in the cultural practices that were relevant and that changed by the incursion of new cultural forms. An example is the adobe-style architecture widespread during the second half of the nineteenth and prohibited by the Costa Rican Seismic Code from the 1910s, which was forced to extinction as a construction system.
In the early decades of the twentieth century, “lifestyles” of the masses is impacted by changes in the new century and 
business development. Many popular cultural practices lost interest and force, so began a period of deterioration, neglect and extinction. These cultural practices are our heritage today and for that reason, the Popular Culture Museum (Popular Folk) has returned as an object of study so that they are studied and preserved for the enjoyment of present and future generations. This is why the programs, projects and activities of the museum are aimed at different sectors, such as students, teachers, families, seniors, organized groups and tourism.
The the museum is a 3000 m2 area, is an adobe house representative of the traditional architecture of the Central Valley. It is a coffee house built between 1885-1887 by the parents of former President Alfredo González Flores. The furniture is older than their visitors and the museum also displayed tools, costumes and musical instruments from ancient times. Restoration and refurbishment of the permanent exhibition was created through the collaboration of national and international agencies (National University, Ministry of Culture and Youth, ICOMOS of Costa Rica, and Germany Embassy) with the active participation of the traditional builders in the region. The ambient of its interior spaces and the reproduction of their natural environment have created the eco-cultural framework from the museum proposed.
The Popular Culture Museum also holds workshops on traditional cuisine (tortillas, prestiños and roasted oven bread), development of traditional toys (dolls embroidery and kites) and environmental education. Similarly, the museum has a multipurpose hall, restaurant, landscaping and parking area.
Address: from the Auto Mercado in Heredia 700 meters north, 450 meters east, 50 meters north and 100 meters west in Santa Lucia in Barva, Costa Rica
GPS coordinates: 10.013331,-84.116653 (10°00’47.99″N, 84°06’59.95″)
Schedule: from Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Website: www.pdmuseologia.una.ac.cr
Phone: + (506) 2277-3857 / 2260-1619
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