Teatro Nacional

Behind the columned, Neoclassical facade of San José’s National Theater, the opulent pink marble lobby with statues of Beethoven and other iconic composers gives way to a main auditorium with grand oil paintings of 19th-century Costa Rican life. The 1,000-seat theater was completed in 1894 at the height of Costa Rica’s coffee and banana boom; it remains the country’s primary performance center, hosting cultural attractions from flamenco to opera.