Originally built as a regular church (1744-1783), the Panteon Nacional in Caracas was elected to be the resting place of illustrious Venezuelans in 1875 by General Antonio Guzmam Blanco. Today the remains of Marques del Toro, Jose Gregorio Monagas, Andres Ibarra, Ezequiel Zamora, and, the city`s most famous son and liberator, El Libertador Simon Bolívar, can be found there.