The city and the canton of Grecia
It was the second decade of the nineteenth century. Costa Rica was just a nation where its inhabitants did not finish believing that they were already independent. They were tumultuous times politically speaking, but also of opportunities.
The almost unexplored western area of the Central Valley became of great interest to coffee landowners, who took advantage of the opportunity to create new cultivation areas.
This is how the foundations of a small village called Grecia was created, which reached the status of a village on April 27, 1838.
More than 1100 people living in 176 homes had more than 10 years of having sent the application, since 1828.
Since then Grecia has been a place of curiosities, which we would like to tell you about below.
The Name, Grecia
The community of “Los Potreros de Puas” were aware that since 1821, the year Costa Rica received its independence, there was another country fighting for its own. This nation was nothing more and nothing less than Grecia, the ancient set of city states of antiquity, now it wanted to be a country for the first time and it was only going to achieve this by separating from the Ottoman Empire. The European Greeks achieved it in 1830.
In support of this struggle the Costa Rican community of Alajuela decided to make the petition to call the town in honor of that country’s fight.
There is another less romanticized version of this story, apparently there was a famous estate in the area, called Grecia and the name simply spread.
The Iron Church
The Griegos had a very difficult time to have their Church. They started with a small straw oratory for the first few years. Then they moved to a humble wooden hermitage with a tile roof in 1846.
By 1856, they already had a brick and wooden temple. However, it was partially consumed by a fire.
It was in 1888 when an earthquake destroyed the masonry temple that was under construction. This was a major setback for townspeople.
However, thanks to the indominable spirit of the Griegos, they decided to make their Church… of metal!!
In 1890 they commissioned the framework of the new Church to a Belgian company. The construction did not pass without vicissitudes, from lack of budget to continue with the work to an accident in the transport of the pieces with ox cart.
The pieces arrived by train from Puerto Limón to Alajuela, but from there they were transported by oxen to Grecia.
It was in 1897 that the Church was finally finished, well almost, because the Belgian company never sent the doors and windows.
The largest canton in Costa Rica
With its current 397 square kilometers it is difficult to imagine that the canton of Grecia was for a good part of the nineteenth century the largest in the whole country. Even the canton delimited to the north with Nicaragua, since then the current cantons of San Carlos, Guatuso and Los Chiles were part of Grecia.
At its maximum extent, the canton covered 4000 square kilometers.
Some new cantons were created as the population grew and roads will be built, such as Naranjo and Alfaro Ruiz.
The last territory to separate from Grecia and become a canton was Rio Cuarto. Interestingly, Rio Cuarto was administratively separated from Grecia because when the canton of Sarchi was created, it was located between the central district and the district of Rio Cuarto.
Serenty by Nature and Grecia
You may wonder why we talk so much about Grecia. Well, it is the most important city of Serenity, located about 10-15 minutes from our hotel. The city has many restaurants, bars, parks, historical buildings and even a Museum. If you stay in our hotel rooms or in the Weekend House, the city and the canton will be a point worth visiting.
The canton has very interesting natural attractions, such as the Los Chorros Waterfalls, the Los Trapiches pools and the Children’s Forest.
If you are planning to use our Outdoor Event Hall, Grecia is an excellent point to get products and services for your event.
We will be talking about all these things very soon in our blog, so stay tuned!!
If you want to know more about the history of Grecia, the local government has very detailed articles about the topic.
Disclaimer
All of our articles and the content on this page are created by people for people. We do not use or support the use of artificial intelligence for texts or images. Our blog is the product of the writer’s personal experience and responsible research that seeks to guide the reader with reliable information.
