Heredia, north of San José, will soon have its much-awaited cultural center, thanks to President Oscar Arias' signing a law to create the Omar Dengo Cultural Center of Heredia.

Joining local authorities and artists from throughout the Heredia province, the president said, “Today we celebrate art and culture, peace and harmony, the aesthetics and education of beauty.”

“But first and foremost,” he said, “we celebrate our pride in being Heredianos.”

A nostalgic Arias waxed poetic about the town in which he grew up.

“This is my land. Here is where my dreams, and many of yours, were born,” he said. “These are the very streets that bore witness to our childhoods; the very homes that watched our youth go by. They all welcome us today in our maturity, to receive our testimonies.”

The cultural center will be located in a building that once housed the Republic of Argentina School. It will act as an incubator for creativity, to encourage and promote native artists, as well as foment research and education in the arts for Heredia's population, explained a statement from Casa Presidencial. And of course, in Arias tradition, the center will promote a culture of peace.

The president cited such local figures in the arts as sculpture Jorge Jiménez Deredia, writer Alí Víquez and the painter Hugo Sánchez.

Arias paid special tribute to Sánchez, and disciples of the artist, such as national prize winner María de los Ángeles Mirando, each of whom “make art and culture in Heredia possible.”

-Tico Times