Les Invalides in Paris was ordered by Louis XIV in a royal order dated November 24, 1670. Libéral Bruant made the initial design, and Jules Hardouin-Mansart designed the Dome chapel and completed the cathedral after Bruant's death in 1697. The infobox gives 1671 to 1706, while the text dates the enlarged project's completion to 1676.
The style is French Baroque. The street facade is 643 feet (196 m) wide, and the complex has fifteen courtyards. The Dome rises 351 feet (107 m) and is gilded with 12.65 kilograms (28 lb) of gold leaf. Napoleon's remains returned in 1840, and his tomb was completed in 1861.
Parisian rioters stormed it in 1789. The museums merged into the Musée de l'Armée in 1905. It now holds museums, a veterans' retirement home and the cathedral of the French Armed Forces. The article gives no opening hours.
Comments