National Pantheon of the Dominican Republic

A former Jesuit church in the colonial zone converted in the twentieth century into a national mausoleum honouring the country's heroes. Its severe stone facade opens onto a barrel-vaulted nave beneath a large ceiling mural, with an eternal flame and marble tombs of independence leaders, presidents and cultural figures. A ceremonial honour guard stands watch. The building illustrates both seventeenth-century colonial architecture and the modern state's efforts to consecrate its national memory in the heart of the old city.