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Cartago was the first permanent establishment of the Spaniards in Costa Rica that managed to last and in several documents is mentioned with the name of Santiago de Cartago. It was awarded by Felipe II with a coat of arms in 1565 and by the Spanish courts with the title of very noble and very loyal in 1814. Cartago was the residence of the Spanish governors from its foundation until the independence in 1821 and the seat of the first meetings Costa Rican government after emancipation. However, according to the 1821 Covenant of Concord, between 1822 and 1823, the capital revolved between Carthage, San Jose and Alajuela. In the first Political Statute of 1823, it was established that Carthage would be the capital again, but almost immediately, as a result of a brief civil war, the seat of the supreme authorities moved to San Jose.



The city was home to the Carthage Court or the Central American Court of Justice, the first permanent court of international law and the first international court of human rights in world history. The Court, opened in 1908, moved to San José in 1911 as a result of the Santa Monica earthquake.



The city of Cartago, the former capital of Costa Rica and home to the world's first permanent international tribunal, the Carthage Court, is located in central Costa Rica. Geographically, it is located at an altitude of 1,300 m above sea level, on the slopes of volcano Irazú, 24 kilometers east of the capital, San José.

The city center measures 4, 13 km² and is divided into the western and eastern districts, where most of the shops, the city hall, the ruins of the apostle Santiago, the Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels and the Costa Rican Technological Institute, second university most important of Costa Rica. The metropolitan region of the city has 295,560 inhabitants, consisting of the cantons of Cartago, Oreamuno, Paraíso and El Guarco. (2007)



The climate is tropical humid, modified by the height and the presence of the mountains. The climate of the city is very cold and very different from the other cities of the Greater Metropolitan Region. In general, the climate of Carthage is classified as temperate, in the city it is often cloudy, hence the nickname "The City of Mist." The extreme temperatures recorded are 3ºC and 33.2ºC.



Featured Buildings

- Basilica of Our Lady of Angels

- Carthage Ruins

- Old Town House

- Mario Sancho Public Library

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