Moravia is the fourteenth canton in the San José province of Costa Rica. The head city of the canton is San Vicente.

Toponymy

It is named in honour of President Juan Rafael Mora Porras (1814 – 1860). Since there was already a canton called Mora, this one was named Moravia.

History

Moravia was created on 1 August 1914 by decree 55. Law No. 55 established Villa San Vicente on 1 August 1914. The first session of the Council of Moravia was held on 19 January 1915, and the first electric street lighting was installed in the same year. Law No. 3248 gave the town of San Vicente city status on 6 December 1963.

Geography

Moravia has an area of 28.82 km2 and a mean elevation of 1297 m. The elongated canton begins in the northern suburbs of the national capital city of San José and continues northeast toward the Cordillera Central (Central Mountain Range). The Virilla, Pará, and Blanco rivers on the north and west, and the Quebrada Azul and Macho rivers on the southeast, partially delineate the boundaries of the canton. Other rivers in Moravia include Quebrada Barreal, Quebrada Lajas, Quebrada San Francisco, Quebrada Tornillal, Quebrada Yerbabuena, Acequia, Agrá, Hondura, Ipís, Pará Grande, Paracito, and Zurquí. Mountain peaks in the area include Zurquí (1,583m), Vargas (1,396m), and Trina (1,270m). Moravia combines densely populated suburbs in the south with rural mountain landscapes in the San Jerónimo district to the north. The cantons surrounding Moravia are Vázquez de Coronado to the east and north, San Isidro, Santo Domingo, and Tibás to the west, and Goicoechea to the south.

Government

Mayor

According to Costa Rica's Municipal Code, mayors are elected every four years by the population of the canton. As of the latest municipal elections in 2024, the We Are Moravia Party (PSM) candidate, Diego Armando López López, was elected mayor of the canton with 45.36% of the votes, with Alejandra Hernández Novoa and Gerhard Phillip Hernández Padilla as first and second vice mayors, respectively.

Municipal Council

Like the mayor and vice mayors, members of the Municipal Council (called regidores) are elected every four years. Moravia's Municipal Council has 7 seats for regidores and their substitutes, who can participate in meetings but not vote unless the owning regidor (regidor propietario) is absent. The current president of the Municipal Council is We Are Moravia Party regidor Randall Emilio Montero Rodríguez, with Progressive Liberal Party regidora Grethel Fernández Carmona as vice-president. The Municipal Council's composition for the 2024–2028 period is as follows:

Districts

The canton of Moravia is subdivided into the following districts:

Demographics

Moravia had an estimated 59,546 inhabitants in 2022, up from 56,919 at the time of the 2011 census. Moravia had a Human Development Index of 0.835 in 2022, the fifth highest in the country.

Education

The first school was founded in 1848, called "school for the education of the children of the residents of San Vicente", and was located on the north side of the current San Vicente city park, called Parque de Moravia. A charity school was created in 1862, with two sections, one for boys and one for women. In 1891, an adobe and brick building was created for the school and this was renamed Escuela Graduada de Varones de San Vicente (Graduate School for Boys of Saint Vincent) in 1893. Two years later, the name Graduada de Mujeres de San Vicente (Graduate School of Women of Saint Vincent) was added and these names were maintained until 1932, when the school was renamed again as Escuela Porfirio Brenes Castro, its current name. The school Porfirio Brenes Castro now occupies a city block to the south of Parque de Moravia. The private school, Saint Francis College, was founded on 23 February 1950, and another school, "Colegio Nuestra Señora de Sión", "Saint Anthony School", "Saint Joseph",Liceo de Moravia, began teaching in March 1966., and Liceo Laboratorio Emma Gamboa. Costa Rica's Japanese international school, Escuela Japonesa de San José (サンホセ日本人学校 Sanhose Nihonjin Gakkō), is located in Moravia.

Transportation

Road transportation

The canton is covered by the following road routes: • CR RNP 32.svg National Route 32 • CR RNS 102.svg National Route 102 • CR RNS 109.svg National Route 109 • CR RNS 117.svg National Route 117 • CR RNS 200.svg National Route 200 • CR RNS 220.svg National Route 220 • CR RNT 307.svg National Route 307 • CR RNT 308.svg National Route 308 • CR RNT 309.svg National Route 309