Panteón de Hombres Ilustres (Pantheon of Illustrious Men)

Located in the cloister of the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Atocha, Spanish politicians and public figures from the 19th century are buried here.

The Pantheon of Illustrious Men was erected between 1892 and 1899, in a characteristic Neo-Medieval style that is reminiscent of Byzantine art, responds to two of the constants of the end of the century: historistic architecture and funerary sculptures. Here rest thirteen illustrious figures of Spanish military and political history in tombs created by renowned sculptors. Some of the important figures buried here include: Ríos Rosas, Cánovas, Canalejas, Palafox, Castaños, Prim, and Concha, among others. The tombs sculpted by Mariano Benilliure and Agustín Querol are especially noteworthy.

Interestingly, in the courtyard of the pantheon you will find a Statue of Liberty, represented in the figure of a woman sculpted in Carrara marble by the sculptor Ponciano Ponzano in 1853, built 26 years before the popular New York statue created the Frenchman Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi. Ponzano’s statue is part of a mausoleum that houses the remains of, among others, the liberal politician Mendizábal, the president of the 1841 Courts, Argüelles, and the jurist Calatrava.