The Les Invalides reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004
(provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Les Invalides

For people who check facts
Dome des Invalides
Les Invalides in Paris, France consists of a complex of buildings on the Left Bank of the Seine, now containing museums and monuments, all relating to France's military history as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the original destination of the building. It is also the burial site for some of France's war heroes.

It was originally planned by King Louis XIV in 1671 as a home and hospital for aged and unwell soldiers: the name is a shortened form of hôpital des invalides, the hospital for invalids. The architect of Les Invalides was Liberal Bruant. By the time the enlarged project was completed in 1676, the river front measured 196 meters and the complex had fifteen courtyards, the largest being the cour d'honneur ("court of honor") for military parades.

Then it was felt that the veterans required a chapel, in which Jules Hardouin Mansart assisted the aged Bruant, and finished it in 1679 to Bruant's designs after the elder architect's death. Compulsory daily attendance was required. Shortly after it was completed, Louis XIV had Mansart construct a separate private royal chapel, the Dome des Invalides (ill. right). It is one of the triumphs of French Baroque architecture, sculptural but tightly integrated, rich but balanced, consistently carrying out its rhythmic theme of || u ||, capping its vertical thrust with a hemispherical dome, and centrally placed to dominate the court of honor. It was finished in 1708.

The most notable tomb at Les Invalides is that of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) in the crypt under Mansart's dome. Napoleon was initially interred on Saint Helena, but King Louis-Philippe arranged for his remains to be brought to St Jerome's Chapel in Paris in 1840. A renovation of Les Invalides took many years, but in 1861 Napoleon was moved to the most prominent location under the dome at Les Invalides.
A popular tourist site today, Les Invalides is also the burial site for some of Napoleon's family, for several military officers who served under him, and other French military heroes such as:

The Hôpital des Invalides spurred William III of England to emulation, in the military Greenwich Hospital of 1694.

The buildings still comprise the Institution Nationale des Invalides (official site), a national institution for disabled war veterans. The institution comprises: [li] a retirement home [li] a medical and surgical center [li] a center for external medical consultations.

 
   
 
   
    
     
      
    
    
     
      
    




Image:invalides_portal.JPG

Image:invalides_dome.JPG







Portal to Court of Honor, Liberal Bruant architect

Dome of Les Invalides, Jules Hardouin-Mansart architect







Image:napoleon_door.JPG

Image:Napoleon_tomb.JPG







Door to Napoleon's Tomb

Tomb of Napoleon






See also: List of other famous cemeteries


External link