Vacation Destinations | Travel Guide
Cartago
Cartago is a city in Costa Rica, about 22 km east of the Costarica capital San José. It is at an elevation of about 1435 m (some 4,707 ft) above sea level, at the base of the Irazú Volcano. Cartago is the capital of Cartago province. The population amounted in 2003 to 141,524 inhabitants.
The Spanish conquistador Juan Vásquez de Coronado founded the city of Cartago in 1563 as the first Spanish settlement in what is now Costa Rica. From the founding until independence in 1821, Costa Rica, it was home to the Spanish governor. The capital first switched several times between Cartago, San José and Alajuela, but was relocated in 1823 by the first elected head of state, Juan Mora Fernández final in the then small village of San José.
1723 the city was destroyed by an eruption of the Irazu. Major earthquakes in the years 1822, 1841 and 1910 caused substantial damage. Another eruption in 1963 added the city also serious harm. In 1907 the city became the seat of the newly established Central American Court of Justice, but this was relocated due to the earthquake of 1910 with the beginning of 1911 to San José.
Every year many pilgrims come to the main church of the village, the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Los Ángeles. The church contains a statue of the Black Madonna (La Negrita is kept), the healing powers are attributed.
In the park of the town are the ruins of an earlier church, which was also destroyed by the earthquake of 1910. Then it was decided that the church a little further east to rebuild.
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