The National Pantheon is situated on the original site of the church of Santa Engrácia, which collapsed in 1681. The reconstruction of the imposing Greek cross monument was inaugurated just a year later and was commissioned to the royal architect and leading exponent of the Portuguese Baroque João Antunes. The grandiose project was left incomplete after the architect’s death in 1712 and would remain a work-in-progress until the 20th century. Its endless construction prompted the invention of the phrase “obras de Santa Engrácia”, which literally means works of Saint Engratia, describing a job never done.