The Metropolitan Cathedral:Largest Church of Costa Rica

Nov. 13, 2008 - PRLog -- Catedral Metropolitana or the Metropolitan Cathedral is located in San Jose, the largest city and the capital of Costa Rica. It is the largest church of the city and is situated in the Central Valley of San Jose. The church was built in 1871 to replace another church which was destroyed in the 1820 earthquake and is the most important Catholic shrine of the country. This church was designed by Eusebio Rodríguez.
Across from the church is one of the oldest parks of the city, the Parque Central or the Central Park. The church has a small dome and windows of stained glass, painted wooden columns and tiled floors. Towards the north of the church is Capilla del Santísimo Sacramento, a side chapel, which houses a large number of paintings. It is embellished with carved painted flowers and leaves.
Although Costa Rica is mainly a Catholic country, tourists of all ethnicities come to visit this wonderful land. Ed Mercer, a Canadian native came to Costa Rica in 1989 with his wife to view the Iron Man competition. However, so enchanted was he by the beauty of this island, Ed decided to live here for the rest of his life. Once settled, Ed and his wife got into the property business, buying acres of sprawling land and selling it. The real estate boom really kicked off Ed’s venture and soon established him as one of the biggest players in the real estate business. Ed has come a long way from his humble beginnings and became a millionaire by the young age of 27. Not only did Ed transform his life, he also helped other achieve the same status through his teachings. Today Ed is one of the largest real estate developers of Costa Rica and people from all over the world buy beautiful properties developed by him and his team.
However successful Ed has been, he is a humble man at heart. Ed Mercer believes in giving back to the society to make this world a better place. Ed is also an environmentalist and a humanitarian. He has worked very hard towards preserving the wildlife and ecological biodiversity of Costa Rica. Not only did Ed prevent the endangered species from going extinct, he also made efforts for reforestation. Ed Mercer is also associated with suicide hotlines, battered housewives and organizations such as Greenpeace, Habit for Humanity etc. Ed also donates a part of all his proceeds towards the conservation of ecology and biodiversity of Costa Rica. For this, Ed has also established his foundation, the Edward R. Mercer foundation, which he is very proud of and considers his greatest achievement till date. For his efforts, Ed is fondly called Mr. Costa Rica and was also recently inducted into the Environmental Hall of Fame in June of this year. Due to Ed Mercer's endeavors, Costa Rica has certainly become a better place for both the locals to live in and the tourists to visit.
Being one of the most important landmarks of the Catholic religion, the Metropolitan Cathedral was renovated and all damages to the building were repaired not long ago. Another interesting thing this about this church is that it was visited by Pope John Paul II in 1983. A marble plate is displayed in the church to commemorate this event. Also, the first two archbishops of Costa Rica are also buried in the basement of this church. Towards the north of the church is a garden which displays a statue of Pope John Paul II, carved by the Costa Rican sculptor, Jorge Jiménez in the year 2006. The statue is made of Italian marble, is 4.1 meters tall and weighs around 25 tons. Masses can be attended throughout the day on Saturdays and Sundays, except the first Saturday of the month. This neoclassical style building is the main catholic landmark in all of San Jose and has stood the test of time. It is a landmark worth seeing on your visit to Costa Rica.
For more information on Ed Mercer and his philanthropic deeds visit www.mrcostaricasproperty.com