Church of Santa Engrácia Church of Santa Engrácia (Portuguese: Igreja de Santa Engrácia) (widely known as the National Pantheon ) (Portuguese: Panteão Nacional) is an ancient monument in Lisbon, Portugal. It is located on a hill in the eastern part of the historical centre of Lisbon (Santa Engra ́cia parish) and in the vicinity of the River Tagus. It was originally a church but later converted into the National Pantheon in which the tombs of Portugal’s major historic celebrities are placed. History The present building is located on the original site of the church of Santa Engrácia. It was founded in 1568, by Princess Maria (1521-1577 A.D.), daughter of King Manuel I (1495-1521 A.D.), following the plan of Nicolau de Frias (Figueiredo et al., 2010). However, nothing remains that dates to this time (Figueiredo et al., 2010). At the end of the 17th century, the reconstruction of the church building was commenced by the royal architect João Antunes but it was halted by his death in 1712 (Ferreira & Cabello, 2008; …
