Panteón Nacional
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The March 27 of1874, president Antonio Guzmán Blanco decreed the transformation of the church of the Santísima Trinidad of Caracas into National Pantheon, to conserve the rest of the heroic comrades of Independence and those of eminent people “… according to the designation of the Chamber of the Senate to proposal of the President of the Republic…” the old church had been constructed by Juan Domingo of the Sacrament Infant in the middle of XVIII century . The 1812 earthquake destroyed it almost totally. Its slow reconstruction continued under the direction of several engineers and when declaring turned it National Pantheon, it was still not finished.
The election of this temple for so particular destiny was motivated, as much by its then panoramic and separated position of the urban nucleus of Caracas, like by its historical antecedents: to their return from Santa Marta, in 1842, the rest of the Simón Bolivar had been deposited temporarily in that church. In her also they were buried, in 1851, the rest of the Marquess of the Toro and later, those of Jose Gregorio Monagas, Andrés Ibarra and Ezequiel Zamora. The decree of Guzmán Blanco was accompanied by the order of the completion of its facades on the basis of the project that stops the church made the engineer Jose Gregorio Solano in 1853-1858. It was the first design of neogothic architecture in Venezuela. it consisted of a symmetrical facade of 3 doors and 2 angular towers that finished in needles. The works were lead, successively, by the engineers Julian Churión, Stolen Juan Manrique, Soriano Takings and Roberto García, being inaugurated the work the 28 of October of 1875. Nevertheless, the true consecration of the building later turned he himself day of San Simón a year, when the rest of the Liberator were transferred from the cathedral. These were placed in sarcófago of wood with silver coatings and gold, made in neogothic style by the French edge Emile Jacquin. The statue of the Liberator done in 1842 by the Italian escultor Pietro Tenerani was also transferred from the cathedral. Sarcófago and the statue was located in the space that corresponded to the priest of the church. In the ceiling, a crystal spider was hung of Bacarat of 230 lights. In1910, the government of Juan Vicente Gómez came to the general reform of the building, according to, the project of the architect Alejandro Chataing. Some changes in the facade were introduced, having done to appear more massive it and the inner decoration was modified, placing a sky-flat one to ceiling of the main and adorned with caissons ship of wood in the lateral ones.
The floor was paved with white, gray and black marble slabs. These works were finished in 1911, in occasion of the celebration of the centenary of Independence. Another reform of the Pantheon was ordered with a decree of the gomecista government in 1929, according to the project of the architect Manuel Mujica Millán. This it consisted of the radical change of the facades to a neocolonial or neobaroque design, adding in the front the third central tower of 48 ms of height and replacing the lateral ones by others, constructed all of concrete armed. Also a new porch with a single entrance was added. The height was increased of the lateral facades, opening the windows in correspondence of the internal chapels. Also it was extended and made the perron more monumental of access. These works, that correspond to the present aspect of the building, were made during year 1930 under the direction of Mujica and the engineers Edgar Pardo Stolk, Hernán Ayala and Guillermo A. Salas. Internally, corrections were made in the arcs and the columns. Old sarcófago of wood that contained the rest of the El Libertador was replaced by one of bronze, designed by the Spanish escultor Chicharro Gamo and placed on a marble plinth. The previous marble pavement was replaced by one new one; one renewed maderamen of the ceilings. The superior part of the ships and the eardrums of the arcs were covered by paintings with allegorical and historical subjects with Tito Salas.
Inside the Pantheon, of both sides of the main atmosphere that contains sarcófago and the monument of the Liberator, are niches with the statues of Francisco de Miranda and Antonio Jose de Sucre, respectively. In other niches, ready throughout the longitudinal walls, there are monuments dedicated to the First Republic, José Gregorio Monagas, Andrés Bello, José Antonio Páez, Rafael Urdaneta and José María Vargas and others important Venezuelan people. Under the pavement, in the 2 lateral ships the rest of próceres and illustrious men of Venezuela are placed, indicated with tablets.
In 1963 the government dictated a new regulation of the Pantheon, establishing that this one must be open to the public every day of the year. At the same time, the administrative modalities of grave and procedures are now the responsibility of the Ministry of Inner Relations. In 1980 the city-planning works of remodeling of the surroundings of the Pantheon were initiated, according to the study of the architect Sanabria.
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