The city of Cartago has a rich history. It was one of the first settlements of the Spanish colonists, who founded it in 1565, and it was the capital of the country until 1823, when the newly elected President, Juan Mora Fernandez, decided that San José had a better political future. Cartago is sill one of the largest cities in the country and there is plenty of land for sale in Cartago Costa Rica. Although the city is over 400 years old, Cartago is modern in tone. Much of its colonial buildings have been lost through the exigencies of time and earthquake, but several restored buildings give visitors and residents a taste of what the city was like in the past.
Every August, pilgrims from throughout Costa Rica and even Latin America visit Cartago to pay homage to the Black Madonna (La Negrita), who is Costa Rica’s patron saint. The Black Madonna is a statue of the Virgin Mary carrying the infant Jesus, and is also over 400 years old. The pilgrims journey to the Basilica de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles, first built in Cartago in 1623 on the site where the stone statue was found, and which has been restored many times since then. Cartago land can be found throughout the city, near to practically any of the cities other churches. Although agriculture was Cartago’s mainstay for hundreds of years, technology is now a burgeoning part of the economy of the city, especially since the Costa Rica Institute of Technology was built here in the 1970s.
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