About Us

Online Art Gallery

Gallery Hours: Mon - Sat: 9 am - 6:30 Sun: 1 - 5 (Sundays Open Jan through April)

Galería Namu, Costa Rica

Our name, namu, is the Bribri word for jaguar, the sacred animal to so many tribes of Central America. This name addresses one aspect of our mission – to respect and celebrate the permanence and legacy of the first people of this land.

In our downtown San José gallery you will find the incredible artwork that comes from Costa Rica (and other Central America locations) indigenous and folk artists. There is no other gallery in the country that has brought together such a collection. Our objective is to bring to you these unique works, at reasonable prices, not only for your delight, but also to give the artists the forum they deserve. We engage in ‘fair trade’ practices: the artists get paid immediately, we are not a consignment gallery and they are assured of receiving equitable compensation.

Despite the general consensus that Costa Rica is not a country one comes to expect to find an array of arts (other than wood crafts), Namu proves that this is simply not the case. When one looks hard enough, as we did, there is a rich and diverse body of folk and indigenous art which is not hard to imagine, given the great natural beauty of this land – how could it not inspire the beautiful art we have assembled.