Grecia 2010 Grecia Images

Grecia translated means Greece, the country. Grecia is the capital city of the canton of Grecia in the province of Alajuela in Costa Rica. It is also the name of the distrito (district) that includes the city. The district of Grecia covers an area of 6.86 km², The city lies at an elevation of 999 meters above sea level in the foothills of the Cordillera Central on the eastern edge of the Central Valley (Valle Central). The city, which was once named "the cleanest city in Latin America," is 20 kilometers northwest of the provincial capital city of Alajuela, 27 kilometers from Juan Santamaria International Airport, and 45 kilometers from the national capital city of San Jose. Grecia is noted for its unique church, Iglesia de la Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, that is made entirely of pre-fabricated steel plates painted red. There are several urban legends regarding this church, the most common of them are. #1 the church was donated by some foreign country, and sent to Greece as a gift, but was wrongly shipped to Grecia, Costa Rica, and #2 the final destiny of this church was the city of Punta Arenas, Chile but was disembarked, by mistake, in the port of Puntarenas, Costa Rica and later sent to the city of Grecia, in the province of Alajuela, where it was assembled. However, history records clearly show that the instruction, shipment and construction of the temple were a coordinated effort of Grecia”s population, the Catholic Church, the Costa Rican government and a gentleman called Alejo E. Jimenez Bonnefil (1858-1922), who was a Costa Rican coffee producer and exporter, who was in charge of commanding and importing the church from the manufacturer “Ateliers de la Societe de Couvillet”, Belgium, in the late 19th Century.

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