Pantheon of the homeland

Towering over Calle Las Damas, the neoclassical façade of the National Pantheon—its tip marked with an engraved Dominican national shield and a trio of bells—boasts an interior that is just as impressive. Guarded daily by a presidential honor guard, this former 18th-century Jesuit church became the country’s national mausoleum in 1956. It houses the remains of Dominican heroes, such as Gregorio Luperón, Salomé Ureña, José Núñez de Cáceres, Concepción Bona, Emilio Prud’Homme, Juan Sánchez Ramírez and María Trinidad Sánchez, among others. Explore its striking baroque interior, with a ceiling mural depicting the ascension to heaven and the Last Judgment, and an eternal flame burning beneath it.