# Moravia (canton)

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 km$^2$ (11.13 sq mi) and a mean elevation of 1,297 m (4,255 ft).
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 (Spanish: Partido Somos Moravia; 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.
Mayors of Moravia since the 2002 elections :
| Period | Name | Party |
| 2002–2006 | Alejandro Hidalgo Carballo | PLN |
| 2006–2010 | Edgar Vargas Jiménez | PAC |
| 2010–2016 | Juan Pablo Hernández Cortés | PLN |
| 2016–2020 | Roberto Zoch Gutiérrez | PAC |
| 2020–2024 | Roberto Zoch Gutiérrez | PSM |
| 2024–2028 | Diego Armando López López | PSM |

### 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:
Composition of the Municipal Council of Moravia after the 2024 municipal elections :
| Political parties in the Municipal Council of Moravia ||||||
| Political party | Political party | Political party | Regidores | Regidores | Regidores |
| Political party | Political party | Political party | № | Owner | Substitute |
| | We Are Moravia (PSM) | | 3 | Randall Emilio Montero Rodríguez$^{(P)}$ | Mauricio José Calvo Umaña |
| | We Are Moravia (PSM) | | 3 | Mayra Lorena Valerio Rojas | Brenda Raquel Padilla Bermúdez |
| | We Are Moravia (PSM) | | 3 | Marco Tulio Aguilar Bermúdez | Pedro Manuel Paganella Herrera |
| | Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) | | 2 | Grethel Fernández Carmona$^{(VP)}$ | Johanna Muñoz Barahona |
| | Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) | | 2 | Kevin Mauricio Méndez Céspedes | Luis Eduardo Gutiérrez Montero |
| | National Liberation Party (PLN) | | 2 | Ronald Camacho Esquivel | Carlos Gabriel Gómez Torres |
| | National Liberation Party (PLN) | | 2 | Sandra Artavia Salas | Mayela Garro Herrera |

## Districts

The canton of Moravia is subdivided into the following districts:
* San Vicente
* San Jerónimo
* La Trinidad

## 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. Porfirio Brenes Castro was a teacher who lived 28 June 1877 – 12 December 1914.
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:
* National Route 32
* National Route 102
* National Route 109
* National Route 117
* National Route 200
* National Route 220
* National Route 307
* National Route 308
* National Route 309