2 Best Sights in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Founded in 1510, this graceful building is still a Dominican church and convent. Note the prominent and beautiful rose window. In 1538, Pope Paul III visited here and was so impressed with the lectures on theology that he granted the church and convent the title of university, making it the oldest institution of higher learning in the New World.

The neoclassical facade of the National Pantheon towers over Calle Las Damas, and its interior 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.