Val-de-Grâce (church)

The Val-de-Grâce church rises above the fifth arrondissement with a stone dome modeled after Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. Anne of Austria commissioned this building in sixteen forty-five to fulfill a vow after she gave birth to the future King Louis the Fourteenth. The architect François Mansart worked on the design, but the Queen dismissed him for spending too much money. Pierre Le Muet finished the project, creating a royal chapel that housed the hearts of French monarchs for over a century.