The National Pantheon of the Heroes, also called the Oratory of the Virgin of the Assumption, stands in downtown Asunción between Palma and Chile streets. President Francisco Solano López ordered its construction in October 1863 as a chapel dedicated to the Assumption of Mary. The Italian architect Alejandro Ravizza designed it, and Giacomo Colombino was the builder.
It was left unfinished after the War of the Triple Alliance and stood surrounded by scaffolding for over seventy years. It was completed after the Chaco War and inaugurated on October 12, 1936 as the National Pantheon of Heroes. It is a state mausoleum and a national monument.
It holds the remains of Carlos Antonio López, Francisco Solano López, José Félix Estigarribia and his wife, the child martyrs of the Battle of Acosta Ñu, and two Unknown Soldiers. A changing of the guard is held several times a day.
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