The Bolivarian Museum (Spanish: Museo Bolivariano) is dedicated to Simón Bolívar, the hero of Latin American independence.
Many of the items in the museum were collected in the nineteenth century, and some of them were put on display in 1883 when President Guzmán Blanco organised an exhibition to celebrate the centenary of Bolívar's birth.
President Rómulo Betancourt decided to move the museum to its present site near the Plaza El Venezolano.
The design of the single-storey structure was commissioned from the architect, Graziano Gasparini, who was already known for restoration work on Venezuela's Spanish Colonial church buildings.
For the museum building he reconstructed a Spanish Colonial facade in keeping with the adjacent birthplace of Bolívar.