El Faro a Colon (The Columbus Lighthouse) is a monument, a cultural center, and a museum where at its crossing corridors are entombed the remains of Christopher Columbus. The original idea was conceived in 1852 by Dominican historian Antonio Del Monte y Tejada. Its construction began in 1986 and was completed, by then President Dr. Joaquin Balaguer, just in time for the 500th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of the Americas.